Learn more about the Hamptons!

                                                                                         

In the old days when harried New Yorkers needed to get out of town for awhile, as often as not they'd head out to the Hamptons. Not to be confused with the Catskills - which is a mountain range - the Hamptons actually consist of a number of small villages (incorporated into two larger towns) located on the east end of Long Island.

Interestingly, of the more than thirty small villages that make up the Hamptons, only nine of them - West Hampton Dunes, Northampton, Westhampton, Westhampton Beach, Southhampton, Hampton Bays, Bridgehampton, East hampton and East Hamptom North - actually contain that particular appellation. The two major incorproated areas are Southhampton and East Hampton proper.

The earliest inhabitants of what would ultimately become the Southhampton part of the Hamptons were Algonquin-speaking Indians known as the Shinnekok, part of a linguistic group that covered most of present-day maritime Canada, New England and the upper Mid-Atlantic States. The first European settlers consisted of a small group of Puritans from Massachusetts, who established the town in 1640.

Amazingly, their first trading post, which was built in 1648, is still standing today; called Halsey House, it is named for one of Southampton's first residents, Thomas Halsey, whose grandfather had received a generous land grant in England from Queen Elizabeth I's father, King Henry VIII. Having originally settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony about twenty years earlier, Thomas Halsey was among the founders of Southampton; his home is the oldest English-style house still standing in the state of New York.

East Hampton was home to related group of Indians known as the Montowkett. Their "headman" (the word "chief" is actually inaccurate) was Wyan-Danch, and according to early accounts, it was he who sold the tribe's land to the English adventurer and fortune-seeker Lyon Gardinier - total price, 1 black dog, some gunpowder, musket balls, and three or four Dutch blankets along with other miscellaneous tools and articles of clothing.

The Montowkett were reportedly none-too-happy about the trade; legend has it that his people poisoned him for having sold their land out from under them.

In any event, Gardinier continue as of East Hampton's leading citizens until his death in 1663 at the age of 64.

East Hampton has the distinction of being not only the first of the Hamptons to be settled by the English, but in fact the earliest English settlement in the state of New York. However, the original inhabitants left many signs of their existence; ancient artifacts and old sweat lodges are still to be seen at Roosevelt Park. In addition, the decendants of the original Montowkett Indians are beginning to remind people in the Hamptons that they're still around; for the past fifteen years, they have been working to get formal recognition as an Indian Nation from the federal government.

About the author:
Anne Harvester writes about Social News,Culture, and Interest Stories from the big apple.



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