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What’s in the name Napeague?

By Judi Desiderio, Thursday, December 09, 2010
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Napeague, that very narrow and not too long strip of land that lies connects Montauk to the rest of the east end, is home to weathered homes, undulating dunes, acres of beach grass, the ‘walking dunes”, and of course, Lazy Point with windsurfing and kiteboarding fanatics.

Only 11 miles long and very low lying, Napeague is also the land that connects the Atlantic to Gardiners Bay. It is also the strip of land that was flooded in the Great Hurricane of 1938 and it is this land that is affectionately known as “Napeague Stretch”.

Like so many of the names on the east end, Napeague too originated from the Indians and means, appropriately, “land overflowed by the sea”. Who would have ever guessed?