Loading map...

1941 Map of Bay Shore West

Name: 1941 Topographic Map of Bay Shore West
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1941
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1941

About this map

Babylon and the surrounding South Shore communities are captured here just before the massive post-war suburban expansion. This 1941 aerial photography base reveals a landscape defined by its coastal orientation, where the Long Island Railroad and the Sunrise Highway provided the primary arteries for local growth. The map shows the dense grid of Bay Shore and the established recreational character of the waterfront, highlighted by the Babylon Yacht Club and the Southward Ho Country Club.

South across the Great South Bay, the barrier islands remain largely undeveloped, with early leisure settlements like Oak Beach and Cedar Island Beach accessible via the Ocean Parkway. This survey documents a critical period when the older village centers, such as West Islip and Brightwater, still maintained clear boundaries amidst active Greenhouses and open terrain, before being fully absorbed into the continuous suburban corridor of Suffolk County.