Hog Island and the poor farm.
Wikipedia says the island was first called Hog Island, then renamed for Sarah Ann Baldwin Barnum (not P.T. Barnum), who arranged its purchase as a county poor farm; the county sold it in 1898 to the Jekyl Island Realty Company for $40,000. Today the island is Barnum Island, the Village of Island Park and Harbor Isle; most of Barnum Island is separated from the village by the LIRR's Long Beach Branch. The hamlet contracts with Island Park for fire and school services and shares its ZIP code, 11558. The E.F. Barrett Power Station is here. Wikipedia also says the entire island was flooded with two to eight feet of water and sewage in Hurricane Sandy.
The Census Bureau's latest five-year survey counts about 1,000 homes, with a median year built of 1967. 19% went up in the 1950s, 4% before 1940, and 35% after 1980. 69% are single-family detached houses, 8% are two-family, 15% are in buildings of five or more units, and 82% are owner-occupied.
So a typical house here has drain and water lines around 59 years old unless they've been replaced. Slow drains in several fixtures, a gurgling floor drain or rusty water from one tap are signs to have the main line and supply piping checked.
Oil to gas means new gas piping.
The ACS shows 77% of homes heat with utility gas and 13% with fuel oil. Switching means properly sized gas piping to the new equipment, and often to the water heater, range and dryer. We do the gas line work. We don't sell or deliver oil.
Water heaters in Barnum Island.
The Census Bureau's survey puts the average owner household at 2.51 people, with a median of 6.6 rooms; 74% of homes have three or more bedrooms and 43% have four or more. A tank sized for a smaller household, or one full of sediment, is what runs out first when several people shower back to back. When a heater fails, we size the replacement to the household and the number of bathrooms, not just to the label on the old tank. Most houses here heat with gas, so the water heater is usually gas too, and it needs a sound flue, a working shutoff and a relief valve that discharges where it should; we check all three when we replace one.
Sewer or septic: check your tax bill.
Nassau County's health department list of sewer collection districts doesn't name Barnum Island, and we couldn't confirm its sewer service from another public source, so we won't guess: a sewer district charge on your tax bill tells you whether you're connected.
Flood risk.
Laying FEMA's current flood map over the Census boundary, about 93% of Barnum Island is in the high-risk (1% annual chance) flood zone (76.2% in zone AE, 16.6% in zone VE; shares of the Census area, water included). If your water heater or gas appliances ever sat in flood water, have them checked before relighting.
Water: Liberty Utilities.
Liberty Utilities (New York Water), formerly New York American Water, lists Barnum Island in its Service Area 1 (the Lynbrook Operations District) in state Public Service Commission filings; your bill is the final word. Liberty's 2026 report on 2025 water for its Lynbrook Operations District says caustic soda or lime raises the pH to cut corrosion of household plumbing and iron is filtered out at 13 of its 20 well sites; total hardness ran 4.2 to 58.6 mg/L, which is soft. Across the whole district, Liberty's state-filed inventory counts 3,700 lead service lines and 15,239 of unknown material, so if your house predates 1940 it's worth knowing what your service line is. For a leak at the curb or in the street, call Liberty. For anything on your side of the meter, call us.
Permits.
Barnum Island is an unincorporated hamlet, so plumbing permits go through the Town of Hempstead Building Department (One Washington Street, Hempstead).
