For our purposes, we define an American Loyalist as someone who resided in the American colonies and supported the British cause during the American Revolution in some material way. Loyalists were declared to be traitors, banished from the country, and had their property confiscated by the new US government. The British government secured land for the fleeing Loyalists in other British colonies including Nova Scotia and The Bahamas.

For Long Island, the Loyalists began arriving in 1784. Out Island Loyalists generally intended to be large-scale cotton planters, though they may have had other professions in Nassau.