to
Update
is a census-designated place (CDP) and a hamlet located in the Town of Islip on unincorporated land in Suffolk County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had only 4,578 households and a total population of 14,078 persons.
Originally referred to as "east of Islip," the proper name was acquired in 1890 from the estate of William Nicoll, an English aristocrat who purchased the hamlet on the 29th of November 1693 to erect a family residence. Nicoll's purchase comprised 51,000 acres (210 km²) from the Secatogues Indians including territory reaching east to Bayport, west to Babylon, and north to Lake Ronkonkoma. His mansion, Islip Grange named after his family's ancestral estate at Northampshire, England stood on the shoreline of the current Heckscher State Park, referred to as Nicolls Neck. East Islip and neighboring Islip, Bay Shore, Great River and Oakdale, were mansion-heavy enclave on Long Island's South Shore, home to world renowned families of nobility and old money.
Today, the hamlet is no longer a haven to New York and the world's social elite. What remains are much smaller, yet exclusive and wealthy communities and few larger estates. Many of these newer communities were built on the land belonging to former estates that were sold off; most notably the estate of Percy G. Williams. The Moorings, an opulent waterfront guard-gated private community is one of the hamlet's premier neighborhoods and highly regarded by Long Island's affluent. Other neighborhoods within the hamlet include Deer Run and Percy Williams Cove.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.4 square miles (11.3 km²), of which, 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it (5.73%) is water.