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History of East Hampton
In the beginning ...
... there was sea, sand and woods.
From the Native Americans to the first settlers from New England, to the summer colonies, the history of East Hampton is truly a magnificent slice of American history.
Whether it's about the early settlers' hardships, scandals such as the witch hunting trials, the town's role in Revolutionary War or the fact that Amagansett was the only territory in the United States that was invaded by the Nazis, our 350+ years history is rich, colorful and intriguing.
A comprehensive review, replete with footnotes and bibliography, is availlable as a separate document:
Here are a few excerpts from the above review:
1600’s: The early settlers.
Before the settlement of East Hampton by Europeans, Native Americans inhabited the beautiful woodlands and coastlands here. Many of the place names in East Hampton are of Indian origin. The Montaukett Tribe, of the Algonquin Indians, gave their name to what is now called Montauk.
Other place names in our town, such as Amagansett, Ashawagh, Napeague and Acabonac are of Indian origin as well. The term “Bonacker,” (from Acabonac), became a local appellation for those whose families go back several generations in East Hampton.
The official date of the European settlement of East Hampton is 1648, when 34 Puritan families (who had originally migrated from England to Massachusetts to Southampton) continued to migrate onward, settling in what is now known as East Hampton. These early settlers purchased shares of land from the governors of the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies, who themselves had purchased 31,000 acres of land from the Montaukett tribe.
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1700's: Expansion and conflict: Growth, Worship, War.
The children of the first proprietors began to establish their own homesteads and farms in outlying areas, and to form their own communities in Wainscott, Amagansett, and Northwest. Montauk lands were sought after for their pasturage, always in demand for the residents' herds of cattle and goats.
All new residents who wanted to purchase a share in the original 31,000 acres had to be approved by the original proprietors. Newer residents, in particular tradesmen or fishermen or laborers, were typically allowed to purchase much smaller lots only, sometimes of only a quarter acre, and sometimes on arid land. Eventually, this situation led to conflict between the original landholders and those who came later, and in 1686 nine residents had to petition the governor of the State of New York for help in obtaining a right to purchase larger or more fertile tracts of land.
Today, it would seem that similar disputes endure over property rights and who is considered "old" or "new" to the town.
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1800's: Whaling, working, and the testing of a young nation's ideals.
The war finally ended and the colonists having (miraculously) achieved their independence, quieter times were at hand, at least for a while, until the next cataclysmic event, the Civil War (1861-1865). East Hampton's population continued to expand, homes and farmsteads continued to be built, and people could turn back to the business of farming, fishing, and otherwise earning a living.
Whaling had begun in the region as early as 1651, when "drift whales" stranded on the shores were harvested, but it was not until the mid 1800's that whaling reached its peak. Northwest Harbor saw some whaling activity for a while, but its waters proved too shallow for the large whaling vessels.
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The Twentieth Century: Storms abroad, storms at home, and a "sea change."
The Civil War was not of course, the end of all warfare for our nation. World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the war in Iraq and other forms of conflict and terrorism would succeed each other with devastating regularity in the 20th and 21st centuries.
East Hampton residents continued to grapple with the moral and political debates that all these confrontations engender. Many East Hampton residents enlisted in the armed forces with passionate conviction and pride, some joined more reluctantly, and some, out of their own passionate beliefs, refused to participate in the wars of their generation.
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The influx of new "locals"
At this time of the turning of the century, another important group was beginning to notice East Hampton, and they would eventually leave a profound mark on the culture and the life of this community. Artists began to focus on the incredible beauty here - the clear light, white beaches, changing colors of the ocean, fiery sunsets on the bays; foxes, ospreys, whippoorwills and owls; the lovely woods, the cottage gardens vibrant with hollyhock, peonies and hydrangeas. Edward Moran, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam and other American Impressionist and "plein air" artists began to visit here, translating this natural world into canvasses, watercolors, and drawings.
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... In the early 1900's wealthy people began to build substantial summer homes here, many of them in the beautiful Shingle Style, with Gambrel roofs, eyebrow windows, wraparound porches. In 1909 the Gardiner Bay Company built four mansions in the Devon section of Amagansett as a "park and cottage colony," although these were not cottages by any stretch of the imagination.
They were stately imposing residences in a Spanish stucco style with spacious grounds. Industrialist Frank Wiborg at one point owned over 600 acres of oceanfront in East Hampton and built himself a mansion called The Dunes. His daughter Sara Sherman Wiborg married Gerald Murphy, and the couple, who wed in 1913, came to symbolize the "jazz age, " - pursuing a heady, indulgent, globe trotting European-American life that included such friends as Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Diaghilev, Cole Porter and Pablo Picasso. Today, the Dunes is gone, but the Wiborg name still can be found in places names such as Wiborg Beach. ...
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... With the advent of this moneyed class, the local and city papers began to get a lot of mileage out of their comings and goings, their dinners and garden parties. In 1902, the New York Times published a chatty piece called "Literary Colony at East Hampton; A number of well known authors resting at Long Island Villages." ...
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... In any case, whether by train, car or private chauffeured Packard, the summer visitors came. By the beginning of the twentieth century these two trends had taken firm root: The growth of an artistic, creative culture that attracted many artists and writers; the growth of a vacation, resort and second home community. ...
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About the Author: Leah Koncelik Lebec, PhD, has published books and articles on a variety of topics. Her essays have appeared in the philosophical journal First Things as well as in the anthology Best Spiritual Writing and elsewhere. She is most grateful to the many historians whose research is referenced throughout this essay. She is also grateful to the East Hampton Library (Long Island Collection) as well as to the East Hampton Historical Society for their tireless efforts to preserve our history and heritage.
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