Osterby House
The Osterby House is a small historic farmhouse on Long Island with a colorful late-19th-century history.
📍 Location
Northeast corner of Fort Salonga Road (Route 25A) and Makamah Road
In Fort Salonga, a hamlet just east of Northport, New York.
🏠 Age of the house
The core of the house likely dates to the late 1700s or early 1800s.
The property included an 18th-century house when it was later purchased in the 1800s.
Real-estate records commonly list the house as built around 1837, though parts may be older.
👨👩👧 The Osterby family
Bernard Osterby and his wife Bentte Marie Osterby immigrated from Denmark in 1881.
Bernard was reportedly a former Danish army soldier.
He bought the property in March 1890 from the heirs of Methodist minister Moses Rogers.
🍺 Local reputation
Osterby reportedly sold beer and liquor to nearby brick-yard workers, often without a license, and was fined for it in 1890.
The area around the house gained a reputation at the time for being somewhat “tough” because of these activities.
🔥 Major fire in 1900
On January 15, 1900, the house burned down in a fire, likely started by a gas lamp.
Fifteen people were staying there as boarders.
One boarder died, and Bentte Marie Osterby was badly burned while rescuing a child.
The house was later rebuilt or repaired, leaving the small brick structure that survives today.
🏡 Later history
The house remained standing and was remodeled and expanded in the 1970s by later owners.
It is still a private residence, recognizable for its small historic brick structure.
✅ Why it’s notable:
The Osterby House is one of the older surviving houses in the Northport/Fort Salonga area, tied to immigrant history, early roadside tavern activity, and a dramatic 1900 fire.
