The neighborhoods of Douglaston and Little Neck are located on the
northeastern frontier of Queens County. The gateway to the north shore
of Long Island, both towns are linked not only geographically but
through an illustrious history that dates back to the time of the
Algonquin, who called the area Matinecock or Place of the Hill Country.
In 1906, the Rickert-Finlay Realty Company helped develop Douglaston and
Little Neck, featuring an architectural tapestry of Colonial and Tudor
Revivals, English cottages, and Arts and Crafts-style homes. Douglaston
quickly became a destination for artists and yachting enthusiasts while
Little Neck quickly saw its conversion from farmland and quaint yet
rustic country stores to a newly developed area of communities and
hamlets that exemplified the American dream. Today an historic district,
Douglaston includes homes designed by Josephine Wright Chapman, one of
the nation's earliest women architects, as well as the childhood home of
pro tennis legend John McEnroe.