Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Massakack (Half Hollow Hills)

A Huntington hills placename, also written Massaback, translated as great hill land. Massakack is connected with the Half Hollow Hills in the Town of Huntington. The earlier Massaback spelling points to the same tract and is retained here as a variant rather than a separate site. The placename belongs to a hill tract near Huntington, described in colonial petitions as about three miles long and two miles wide. Those petitions connect the Massaback and Massakack forms to the same Half Hollow Hills landscape. Related forms include Massaback and Massakack. The name is interpreted as great hill land, from elements for great or large, hill, and land/place. Why Place Names Matter “Street and place names tell stories. When a name changes, that is history too – it often shows that the people in charge changed.” — South African History Online, Local History: The Story of My Own...