Our First Neighbors
The first inhabitants of the area now known as Oceanside were Native Americans. Until 1643, when Reverend Richard Denton, ( a minister who was clashing with the religious leaders of the area now known as Connecticut) sent Robert Fordham and John Carman across "The North Sea" (as the Long Island Sound was then called,) to explore the land as a possible site for a community of his belief, Long Island was the home of thirteen clusters of people.
Older histories often refer to the peoples of Long Island as 13 distinct tribes. However, current research seems to indicate that contrary to older assumptions, these were not distinct "tribes", but more likely families and friends who joined together for society and survival.
If this seems odd to us in the 21st Century, we must remember a few facts. First, Native Americans did not have a concept of land ownership, and upon reflection, for good reason. In 2001 there are approximately 32,000 people living in Oceanside. In 1790, there were approximately 28,000 people living in all of what is now Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau & Suffolk Counties--COMBINED! It is likely that there were far less than 10,000 Native Americans in the same area prior to 1643. With so few people living here, space and land were as common to Native Americans as air is to us.
When the Europeans landed they referred to the people of Long Island by the names of the areas they inhabited. Those living to the west of what is now Oceanside predominately resided in the locale they called Rockaway-- hence the Europeans called them the Rockaway Tribe. Similarly, the Native Americans to our immediate east mostly lived in the area they called Meroke.
The Native Americans of Long Island all spoke Algonquin, a lush language which has unfortunately been lost to time.
There is no evidence that any group of people resided permanently in our town. Most likely this was a by way for all, an area in which to hunt and fish, and to harvest the plentiful oysters at our coast.
