Where Long Island History Meets Modern Convenience

Long before Route 110 became one of Long Island’s most recognizable business corridors, Melville was a quiet rural community of farms, wooded hills and country roads.

From Sweet Hollow to Melville

Melville was once known as Sweet Hollow, a name historically associated with the abundance of honeybees and honey found in the area. An 1870s history of Long Island described the community as a small rural village of approximately 40 homes, with a store, a Presbyterian church dating to 1829 and a schoolhouse.

The name Melville began appearing in local school records by the mid-1850s. While its precise origin remains uncertain, local histories have connected it both to the word mel, Latin for honey, and, less conclusively, to author Herman Melville.

Agriculture remained an important part of the landscape for generations. Historic records from the surrounding area document farms producing wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, livestock, butter, honey and beeswax.

The area also shares a remarkable connection with American literary history. Just north of present-day Melville, poet Walt Whitman was born in West Hills in 1819, in a farmhouse that is now preserved as a New York State Historic Site.

A Community Transformed

Melville's greatest transformation came during Long Island's post-World War II suburban expansion.

Beginning in the 1960s, the once predominantly agricultural area developed into a major commercial and corporate center. Today, the Town of Huntington describes the Route 110 corridor in Melville as “Long Island’s business downtown” and identifies the Melville Employment Center as an important regional concentration of commercial, financial and industrial employers.

Why Consider Melville Today?

For today's home buyer, Melville offers an interesting combination: residential neighborhoods alongside one of Long Island's major employment corridors, while remnants of its earlier landscape remain visible along historic roads and preserved open spaces.

Its central location provides convenient connections to the Long Island Expressway and Northern State Parkway, while Route 110 connects the area with shopping, dining, businesses and destinations throughout western Suffolk County.

Melville is also part of the larger Town of Huntington, placing residents within reach of Huntington's downtown districts, parks, cultural attractions and Long Island Rail Road stations.

Perhaps what makes Melville most interesting is the contrast. Country roads, historic sites and reminders of Long Island's agricultural past coexist with corporate offices, major transportation routes and modern conveniences.

From Sweet Hollow to today's Melville, this is a Long Island community that has continually evolved while retaining visible connections to the history that came before it.