Long before development transformed central Long Island, the Hempstead Plains was a significant prairie ecosystem spanning much of what is now Nassau County. This landscape, once open grassland used as common land by local settlers, was the subject of a recent lecture at Stony Brook University’s Humanities Institute.
On October 17, historian Jennifer L. Anderson presented “Transforming Hempstead Plains: The Demise of the ‘Public Commons’ on Long Island” to an audience of students, faculty, and staff. Her talk, part of the Humanities Institute’s faculty lecture series, drew attention to the environmental and social history of the plains and the people who relied on them.
“It was this amazing resource… Everyone who lived in the community had access to it. Whether you were a wealthy landowner with 30 cows or a poor family with one mangy cow,” Anderson said early in her talk, standing before a map of the island from 1802. “What remains, I guess I would say, is priceless.”
Anderson described how in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Hempstead Plains were maintained as common land for grazing and hay-cutting by local settlers. Black and Native Long Islanders, who often lacked formal land ownership, also depended on these commons for their livelihoods.
By the 19th century, changes in agricultural practices and growing interest in private development began to undermine the communal system. Anderson noted a shift in how land was valued: “There’s a cultural turn,” she said, “where land that was once understood as valuable because it was common begins to be called ‘waste.’”
This shift in perception led to enclosure and sale of the land. Anderson used historical documents to show how organizations like the Farmers Club of New York and the Long Island Rail Road promoted settlement and development in the area. The Civil War marked a turning point when the Town of Hempstead sold off the commons to fund public expenses. Much of the land was bought by Alexander Stewart, who developed Garden City.
“Within a generation, the land that had sustained people for centuries was gone,” Anderson said.
Today, only 19 acres of the original Hempstead Plains remain, preserved behind Nassau Community College through conservation efforts. Controlled burns are used to maintain its native ecology.
Anderson argued that Long Island’s current identity is shaped not just by postwar suburbanization but by much older processes of exclusion and enclosure. “We think of segregation as starting with redlining,” she said during the Q&A. But she argues it began with access of land defining who could belong to a place.
Audience members asked about property law, genealogy, and environmental management. Rita Langdon, assistant vice president for communications at Stony Brook University, mentioned her own family’s historical ties to the plains. Anderson indicated she is considering expanding her research into a book.
“Hempstead is trying to take over my book, and I haven’t decided yet,” she explained. But she added that she has “way more juicy material than I shared today.”
The lecture highlighted how understanding Long Island’s history involves examining deep-rooted patterns in land use and community belonging.
