Dan's Papers - July 4, 2008 - East Hampton: A CliffsNotes History from 1648

The founding of the settlement of Maidstone, later to be called Easthampton (the separation of the words East and Hampton didn't happen until 1885) is a story of commitment, vision and luck. Historian Henry Hedges, in a lecture given in 1849, made some remarkable points. The first settlers were surrounded by Indians, as Hedges recalled, "On the east, at Montaukett, the Royal Wyandanch swayed the scepter. On the north, at Shelter Island, his brother Poggatacut ruled the tribe of Manhassets, and a third brother by the name of Nowedinah presided over the destinies of the Shinnecock tribe."

There was no contact with Southampton - wilderness separated original settlers John Hand, Thomas Talmage Jr., Daniel Howe, Thomas Thomson, John Mulford, John Stratton, Robert Bond, Robert Rose and Joshua Barnes. Six of the settlers came from Lynn, Massachusetts, as did the original settlers of Southampton eight years earlier. The luck was that the land had plenty of fish, deer and very fertile lands suitable for farming. But it took a stern commitment to build on the land the foundations and traditions of what is now the Town of East Hampton. They settled around the Pond in 8 to 12 acre plots of land. The original homes were small with thatched roofs. The original church of 1653 was located on the east end of the burial ground. East Hampton actually existed practically as an independent country until it formally merged with Connecticut in 1657. It wasn't until 1664 under the reign of Charles II, that East Hampton was declared, as was all of Long Island, part of New York.

During the American Revolution, after Washington's decisive defeat at the Battle of Long Island, the British occupied the Town of East Hampton, taking over the choice homes to house officers and crown officials. The British seized farm animals and crops as they wished, often torturing women to get information about their husbands, many of whom fled to Connecticut while others fought bravely in resistance to the brutality of their captors. There are accounts that after the war it was very hard for the occupying British forces to leave East Hampton, considering it was such a pleasant place. At this time, part of the British Fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot was permanently anchored in Gardiner's Bay. In fact the British chose Colonel Abraham Gardiner's home (now home of Ladies Village Improvement Society) as their headquarters. Summering in East Hampton then were the likes of Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Percy, Governor William Tyron, as well as the infamous Major Andre, who left East Hampton for his fatal trip to West Point with wine glasses given to him by the Gardiners.

In 1845, East Hampton resident Julia Gardiner, then referred to as "The Rose of Long Island" due to her beauty, became the wife of then widowed President John Tyler in a ceremony in New York City. Her father, buried in the South End Burial Ground, was killed in an explosion of a new weapon aboard the Navy vessel Princeton - in front of President Tyler and a dozen other government officials. The legend is that President Tyler was the first face she saw after fainting when informed her father had died. She too would have died had she not felt faint and went down below before the failed weapon demonstration.

The town remained remote until 1895, when the LIRR conducted direct train service to and from New York City. It was quite a sight when the tracks were being laid down because, due to legal battles concerning properties to be traversed, the LIRR actually started in East Hampton to lay track west to Bridgehampton, and east to Amagansett and Montauk. The steam locomotive "Clement" was hauled from Bridgehampton to East Hampton and down Newtown Lane on a huge wagon pulled by oxen. It must have been a sight to see a steam locomotive on a wagon pulled by oxen make the right turn from Main Street onto Newtown Lane to the small patch of track that then existed. The train station in East Hampton is the original station that horses and buggies drove up to pick up or drop off passengers when it opened in 1895. It was during that time that the first millionaires that had already settled in Southampton started heading east for more privacy. In fact, the Maidstone Club, featuring its golf course, was founded in 1891. The views of the course and the ocean have not changed much in the last 100+ years. It was the next year, 1895, when the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society was established to actually fill the historic pond on the green with water. On this holiday weekend, it's fitting to mention that the LVIS is responsible for the American flags that line Main Street on the 4th of July.