It also has a popular swimming beach, which runs some two kilometres from Black Rock in the south to Castor Bay in the north.

[9] The North Shore is primarily uplifted Waitemata Group sandstone, that was deposited on the sea floor during the Early Miocene, between 22 and 16 million years ago.

The lava solidified into basalt rock, creating the Takapuna Fossil Forest, which was exposed an estimated 7,000 years ago due to coastal erosion.

[14] Prior to human settlement, pōhutukawa trees dominated the coastal margins of the North Shore.

To the southwest of Milford is Smiths Bush in the Onewa Domain, a remnant native forest, dominated by kahikatea and taraire trees.

[18] Milford is surrounded by the suburbs of Takapuna, Wairau Valley, Forrest Hill and Castor Bay.

The Wairau Creek flows through the North Shore, and enters the Rangitoto Channel of the Hauraki Gulf at Milford.

[19] The highest point in the suburb is 49 metres (161 ft) above sea-level, at the northwestern end of Belmont Terrace.

[23][24][25] Traditional stories tell of a party of Maewao, foraging for shellfish at the beach, perishing when the sun rose.

[24] The warrior Maki migrated from the Kāwhia Harbour to his ancestral home in the Auckland Region, likely sometime in the 17th century.

His younger son Maraeariki settled the North Shore and Hibiscus Coast, who based himself at the head of the Ōrewa River.

[30] In the 17th century, Ngāti Pāoa attacked the settlements around the Waitematā Harbour, later intermarrying with the Te Kawerau ā Maki and Ngāi Tai people of the southern North Shore.

During intertribal war with Ngāpuhi, the pā at Maungauika / North Head was sieged in 1793, leading Ngāti Pāoa to refocus their settlements on Waiheke Island until the 1830s.

[37] Early European settlers were predominantly from England, Scotland and Ireland, and they established farms around the lake.

[38] Crops such as wheat, maize, barley, potatoes and kūmara were grown at these farms, and homesteads planted single acre orchards dominated by plums, apples and peaches.

[10] The Takapuna and Milford Beach areas, as well as the land surrounding Lake Pupuke soon became popular spots for wealthy businessmen building summer homes to entertain in a rural surrounding, and eventually, many moved here permanently, commuting to work in Auckland via ferry.

[41][10] James Sheriff operated a kauri gum store at Milford, near the Wairau Creek.

[40] As a part of the suburban development, a tall footbridge over the Wairau Creek was constructed between Milford and the cliffs of southern Castor Bay.

An elaborate dance hall and restaurant designed by James Fletcher to look like a pirate ship, the venue was a popular destination for Aucklanders.

The bridge caused suburbanisation across the North Shore, and led to Milford transitioning from a holiday community to a residential suburb in the 1960s and 1970s.

In June 1889 the road board was dissolved, in favour of Takapuna being under the direct control of the Waitemata County Council.