Amityville is a village in the town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York. Huntington settlers first visited the Amityville area in 1653 due to its location to a source of salt hay for use as animal fodder. Chief Wyandanch granted the first deed to land in Amityville in 1658. The area was originally called Huntington West Neck South. According to village lore, the name was changed in 1846 when residents were working to establish its new post office. The meeting turned into bedlam and one participant was to exclaim, “What this meeting needs is some amity”. Another version says the name was first suggested by mill owner Samuel Ireland to name the town for his boat, the Amity. Amityville is the setting of the book The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson, which was published in 1977 and had been adapted into a series of films made between 1979 and 2017. The story of The Amityville Horror can be traced back to a real life murder case in Amityville in November 1974, when Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot all six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. In December 1975 George and Kathy Lutz and Kathy’s three children moved into the house, but left after twenty-eight days, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena produced by the house. Jay Anson’s novel is said to be based on these events but has been the subject of much controversy. The house featured in the novel and its film versions still exists, but has been renovated and the address changed in order to discourage tourists from visiting it.
Population: 9,523
Zip Code: 11701, 11708
Area Code: 631
Elevation: 20′
Amityville Chamber of Commerce
