Wantagh (/ˈwɒntɔː/ won-TAW) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, United States.

[5] The Wantagh area was inhabited by the Merokee (or Merikoke) tribe of the Metoac Indians prior to the first wave of European settlement in the mid-17th century.

The Merokee were part of the greater Montauk tribe that loosely ruled Long Island's Native Americans.

The Treaty of Westminster in 1674 settled the land claims once and for all, incorporating Long Island into the now-British colony of New York.

During the Revolutionary War, British ships traveled up Jones inlet and came ashore to raid Jerusalem farms.

The Cherrywood shopping center (at the corner of Jerusalem and Wantagh avenues) was the site of prominent settler Capt.

[12] There are 63 confirmed graves that include descendants from the Seaman and Jackson families, with the most notable including Thomas Jackson, who served in the Revolutionary War in the Second New York Regiment and participated in the Battle of Long Island and the storming of Fort St. George under Major Talmadge in 1780, and who was the original landowner of the site of land around the Wantagh Public Library; and General Jacob Seaman Jackson, a brigadier general in the War of 1812 and senior warden of Long Island's first chartered Masonic lodge in 1797.

[12] The Jerusalem Society of Friends Cemetery is located behind (east of) the current Christian Tabernacle Church.

The Society of Friends were Quakers who maintained meeting houses in Jericho, Bethpage, and Hempstead, and met in then-Jerusalem as early as 1697.

John Seaman allowed the Society to conduct meetings on his land in 1699, but the congregation later traveled to Bethpage to worship.

[11] Former U.S. President Richard Nixon's dog, Checkers, is buried at Wantagh's Bide-a-Wee Pet Cemetery on Beltagh Avenue.

[13] Wantagh has a warm temperate climate (type Cfa) with cool winters, hot summers, and mild springs and falls.

[17] However, small areas towards the eastern edges of the hamlet are served by the Seaford Union Free School District.

[17] And students living in portions of Wantagh north of Jerusalem Avenue are served by the Levittown Union Free School District.