Copiague is an 'American Venice' with sidewalks and midcentury homes
While sidewalk-lined streets and a familiar mix of prewar midcentury homes make Copiague blend with neighboring communities at first glance, a closer look at the blocks leading toward the Great South Bay reveals the global inspirations that built this South Shore hamlet. Specialty grocers advertise Eastern European comfort food in English and Polish, and Latin dance music spills out from a beachfront cantina across Tanner Park on summer evenings. Winged lions atop pillars have long guarded the American Venice development, mirroring its Italian namesake. “The history is that Copiague was originally settled by a large Italian population. American Venice has their own Grand Canal that goes out to the bay like Venice. The gondolas are gone, but you see all kinds of boats on the water. Kayaks and motorboats to large cabin cruisers and sailboats,” says Gerald O’Neill, an associate broker at Signature Premier Properties with 51 years of experience selling on the South Shore in Babylon. Ever-evolving businesses along Sunrise Highway and quieter commercial strips carry Copiague’s multicultural influences, as do the diverse Town of Babylon events that fill its southern peninsulas.
Rows of cape cod style homes are popular in Copiague, NY.
The shore of Tanner Park in Copiague is a great place for a walk.
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Boating on the Great South Bay and athletics at Tanner Park
Private docks line Copiague's southern border from the straight line of American Venice’s Grand Canal to the meandering, peninsula-broken banks of the Great South Bay. Boaters and anglers take off through the South Shore’s waterways, those on kayaks typically hugging the shores and nearby salt marshes while motorboaters might set out into the Atlantic Ocean through distant access points like the Fire Island Inlet. Those without backyard docks can apply for a boat slip and dock at Tanner Park Marina, one of the many amenities that draw Town of Babylon residents to Tanner Park. “I walk in Tanner Park pretty much every day. There’s a skatepark, a football field, the senior center – it's big,” says Cheryl Messina, a licensed associate real estate broker with Signature Premier Properties who lives in Copiague. “The summer bar there, Cantina Bay, changed owners. There’s music and dancing there pretty much every night.” Along the waterfront, anglers cast from a fishing pier, swimmers splash at Copiague Beach, kids run through the spray park and concertgoers rock out around the band shell. Further inland, athletes have access to plenty of fields and courts, from classic baseball diamonds and pickleball courts to bocce courts.
Launch your boat at the Tanner Park Marina in Copiague.
Skate boarders practice their tricks at Tanner Park in Copiague.
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Copiague homes on South Shore canals and midcentury suburban blocks
While Copiague’s residential blocks carry the typical blend of prewar through midcentury-heavy single-family styles that suburbanized Long Island, the subdivisions stretching down peninsulas into the bay and waves of new construction have introduced variety to the hamlet. “We have a very strong demand for waterfront properties. If you’re a boater, you want your boat in the backyard; you don’t want to drive to a marina. Inland, there’s tremendous variety in housing, from little cottages to big new construction. Anywhere builders can buy a distressed property and build a new house, they’re doing that,” O’Neill says. On landlocked blocks to the north, move-in ready single-family homes usually sell for $400,000 to $730,000, though fixer-uppers can go for less. Waterfront homes on canals, creeks and the Great South Bay usually sell for $530,000 to $900,000, but especially large or renovated homes can sell for $1 million to $2.5 million. Condos in communities like The Anchorage and Harbor View Estates sell for $370,000 to $700,000, varying widely in architectural style, age requirements and monthly HOA fees.
Some of the colonial style homes in Copiague, NY have detached garages.
Ranch style homes are often set back off the roadway a little bit in Copiague, NY.
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Festivals and pow wows at Tanner Park
Its size and waterfront views make Tanner Park a popular venue for big community events. The Copiague Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Long Island Family Festival is among the most anticipated, drawing crowds for a weekend of carnival rides, live music and fair food each September. The Paumanauke Pow Wow has an over 40-year history of celebrating Native American cultures in Long Island. Each August, Native and non-Native attendees enjoy a weekend of traditional dance performances and competitions, Native food and traditional crafts and artisan goods sold by vendors. Concerts, car shows and Cantina Bay Latin dance nights are a few more events that keep Tanner Park lively.
Shopping and dining on Montauk and Sunrise highways
Copiague’s businesses congregate behind parking lots on major thoroughfares like Montauk and Sunrise highways and on a more Main Street-style commercial area along Oak Street. Mama’s is the local favorite for pizza, pasta and other Italian favorites, while Zagloba Polish Bar & Restaurant serves Polish staples in a rustic, intimate dining space. Fine Fare Supermarkets stocks groceries, including robust international sections. Several churches are active throughout the hamlet, including Our Lady of the Assumption which holds services in English, Spanish and Polish. Near Sunrise Highway, strip malls house big names like Home Depot and Target.
Many different types of businesses call Montauk Highway in Copiague, NY home.
Fine Fare is located on Montauk Highway in Copiague.
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Eagles basketball at Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School
Most kids will attend one of four Copiague Public School District elementary schools, including Great Neck Road Elementary School, which earns a B-minus from Niche. Copiague Middle School also earns a B-minus. Students at the B-plus rated Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School glow Eagles blue at home basketball games thanks to a professional-grade LED light system installed in the gymnasium in 2023. Kids living in a small, northwestern section of Copiague will attend the Amityville Union Free School District which earns a C-plus overall.
Copiague Middle School serves students in grades 6-8 in Copiague.
The student-teacher ratio at the Copiague, NY High School is 14 to 1.
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Traveling to the Southern State Parkway and boarding at the Copiague LIRR Station
While Sunrise Highway is a major east-west connector, commuters are likely to head further north to the Southern State Parkway on the roughly 40-mile drive to Manhattan. Train riders board at the Copiague Long Island Rail Road Station and can arrive at Penn Station in just over an hour. Suffolk County Transit buses make stops along Montauk Highway. St. Joseph Hospital is less than 10 miles away, and commercial flights take off from John F. Kennedy International Airport about 25 miles away.
Copiague flooding south of Montauk Highway
As is the case along most of the South Shore, unusually heavy rainfall and extreme coastal storms can cause waterfront sections of Copiague to flood. Flood insurance is needed for properties sitting closest to the Great South Bay and Copiague’s canals and creeks, generally defined as the area south of Montauk Highway.
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