USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 29
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume I > Part 29
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The decline of Northwest as a village was caused by its poor soil and also the lack of deep water in the harbor. After 119 years, it was abandoned as it could not accommodate the larger vessels which
Manor House, Gardiner's Island, Destroyed by Fire Several Years Ago
came into use. So Sag Harbor, an Indian village settled by white men in 1707, began its interesting existence as a shipping point. Its story belongs to Southampton town, since only one small corner is in East Hampton.
Around the several family burying grounds in the Northwest woods, the State has built little white fences. Everybody loves to explore the wooded roads, or park by the bay at various points. Many like to hunt for the three foundation stones of the old district school- house or to read the inscription on a solitary brown tombstone on the edge of the woods, placed there in memory of a boy who died of smallpox in 1735.
Gardiner's Island, site of the first English home in New York State, 1639, is still, in fact as well as name, Gardiner's Island for it has remained in that family. The founder, Lion Gardiner, was a man of excellent judgment in his treatment of the Indians. Otherwise the settlement on his tiny island, undefended by a fort, might easily have been wiped out. He and his good Dutch wife came here from Con- necticut.
Montauk Lighthouse, Standing at the Extreme Easterly End of Long Island's South Shore
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Gardiner trusted the Indians so implicitly that he once gave him- self as a hostage while negotiations with them were pending. His rescue of the Montaukett Indian Princess by ransom is an oft-told story. A less romantic rescue by Gardiner was in the case of Goody Garlick, the only person ever charged with witchcraft in East Hamp- ton Town.
Gardiner's Island, where twelve generations of Gardiners lie buried in the family cemetery, was sometimes visited by pirates in the old days. The story of Captain Kidd, told so often and so mis- takenly, has recently been documented by Morton Pennypacker and the true version published in "New York History". Kidd was never the villain the romancers made him out to be. There were men in high places who wanted the loot of his privateering.
In 1639, a year before either Southold or Southampton was founded, Lion Gardiner explored his little wooded island and pur- chased it from Wyandanch. He named it the Isle of Wight. The price paid was merchandise worth about twenty-five dollars. Included in the price was one large black woolly dog, one flintlock gun, powder and ball, some Jamaica rum and several Dutch blankets.
The Island is an estate of 3,300 acres, about three miles from the main shore of Long Island. It is one of the greatest hatching places in the world for the osprey or fishhawk. They arrive each year on March 20, and leave September 20. Countless other varieties of birds make their home on the Island for it is a natural sanctuary for feathered life.
Montauk is East Hampton Town's newest village. From the earliest colonial days this part of the town was used as a cattle range. It has always been a favorite area for hunting and fishing. The light- house was built in 1795-6. Montauk is a land of plenty, producing wild fruits in abundance. For years East Hampton's preserve closets have overflowed with jars of blackberries, huckleberries, blueberries, wild grapes, elderberries, cranberries, and delicious beachplum jelly, from Montauk. When in 1879 Arthur W. Benson purchased Montauk it ended the Indian reservation.
Montauk has an Army Base, a Navy Base which supplanted the fishing village, several Coast Guard Stations and two State Parks. Much of the world is aware of Montauk's beauty by personal contact or by hearsay and, unlike the proverbial prophet, it is especially loved by local people. They have sometimes opposed the changes-State Parks, Carl Fisher's dream, the railroad's fishing excursions, the several "developers", the wartime installations which cost many millions of dollars, but Montauk is so big that none of these things has spoiled the natural beauty of the place. The wildness of the hills rolling from the Highlands to the Point, and the beautiful, clean, lonely shoreline are much the same as always and the interest in them has increased. Only one towering office building sticking up like a sore thumb as a monument to Carl Fisher's optimism, is noticeably incongruous and out of place in the windswept beauty of Montauk.
When Walt Whitman visited Montauk Lighthouse it inspired him to write:
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"I stand on some mighty eagle's beak Eastward the sea absorbing, viewing The tossing waves, the foam, the ships in distance, The wild unrest, the snowy, curling caps That inbound urge and urge of waves Seeking the shores forever."
World War II brought many marvelous military installations to Montauk. From picnic and hunting grounds it became an American Gibraltar. The big guns installed there had an amazing range and were deadly accurate.
The cultural history of East Hampton Town is worthy of note. Its progress, both religious and secular, both past and present, has been most distinguished. Local citizens have labored for the churches, the schools, old Clinton Academy, the libraries, the art galleries in Guild Hall, which also contains the little theatre, and culture clubs. One club, The Ramblers, is now nearing the half century anniversary of its organization.
Although "The Groves" served as the first place of worship here, the building where religious meetings were first held was an inn. It was kept by Thomas Baker who was paid eighteen pence a week for its use as a meeting house. During these religious meetings two armed guards were always on duty.
In 1651 the first church was built. Not until 1748 did it become Presbyterian. It was twenty feet by twenty-six feet, with sides of rough boards and a roof of thatch. It stood on the site of the old South Cemetery, just north of the grave of its first pastor, Reverend Thomas James. This building was twice enlarged, in 1673 and in 1698.
By 1717 a new church was built on a lot north of the present Guild Hall. It was the most beautiful church of its day on Long Island. In the present sidewalk, the ancient millstone doorstep of this edifice is still visible. The building was a perfect specimen of colonial church architecture. It was forty-five feet by eighty feet and had a vestibule with two large front doors. Its sturdy frame was made of timbers from Gardiner's Island with trim of native cedar. A well- proportioned spire reached high into the blue and contained a bell and a clock. The building was still sound in the 1860's, when it was torn down and the present church was built. Many regret its destruc- tion, but after 160 years it was too small for its membership.
The Presbyterian Church of today is a great contrast to the rude thatched house of worship of the ancient days. There is now also a building variously called Session House, Lecture Room, Chapel or Church Parlors, where the women's chapters and the Men's Brother- hood meet.
Besides its oldest church, East Hampton now also has an Epis- copal, a Methodist, and a Roman Catholic Church, their various edifices having been nicely designed to fit into the quaint beauty of the village.
Amagansett has two churches, Montauk has two and there are chapels in Wainscott and Springs.
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John Wallace, "The Mystery Man", had much to do with East Hampton's first little Episcopal Church, which in later years pur- chased a part of the land of Home, Sweet Home and built a large stone structure and a rectory, both of English architecture.
Again speaking of the oldest church, several of its ministers had unusually long pastorates. The first was the Reverend Thomas James, Jr., who served from 1650 to 1696. He was respected for his devout life, his business ability and his justice to both colonists and Indians. He made a study of the Indian language and preached for years to the Montauketts in their own tongue.
(From watercolor by Cyril A. Lewis)
Historic Panorama at East Hampton
From left to right, the buildings shown are the Mulford House, Mill, Home Sweet Home, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Rectory, all overlooking picturesque Village Green.
Mr. Eells, a modern minister of the church, once wrote a detailed biography of Thomas James from which we quote: "He was called eccentric, but his great eccentricity was a love for the Montauk Indians. He and Lion Gardiner were their self-appointed protectors. The Sachem was their friend. Mr. James had Loper teach the Indians to go after whales and contracted to pay them exceptionally large amounts for their work. He paid them not because he was commercial, but to establish the Indians in a profitable occupation, the best kind of welfare work."
He was outspoken against the injustice of Governor Dongan who sought tribute from East Hampton land owners to perfect their titles. When James preached a famous sermon on the pertinent text, "Those who remove the ancient landmarks," he was arrested and taken to New York, but was released.
Thomas James' last eccentricity was directing that his body be laid to rest with head opposite to those of his congregation so, when he arose on judgment day, he could face them as of old. He lived to be about eighty.
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Nathaniel Huntting was the second minister, a scholarly man who graduated from Harvard in 1693. He preached in East Hampton fifty-one years and dealt many heavy blows for the cause of tem- perance. The third pastor, Dr. Samuel Buell, a Yale man, was leader of the flock for fifty-two years.
In a history of the church in the 1880's Rev. J. D. Stokes wrote of Dr. Buell: "He was a man of remarkable physical and mental endowments, gifted, impressive, earnest, of sound judgment, fertile in imagination, cheerful in disposition, of sprightly wit, of strong common sense, ready in repartee, and yet withal a perfect gentleman. He was a prince among his peers and perhaps made the most pro- found and lasting impression of any man that ever stood before his people. He was here during the stormy times of the revolutionary struggle and while many left the Island, he remained with the people of his charge and was often instrumental in mitigating their suffer- ings and hardships and in preventing their robbery by the British Soldiery."
There are well-known stories of Buell in the Revolution, showing his quick wit, his fearlessness and his love of fun. He opened his private library for public use in 1753 and in 1784 he supervised the building of Clinton Academy where William Payne, father of the author of "Home, Sweet Home", was the first principal.
One more pastor gave long service in the Presbyterian Church, Reverend John D. Stokes who was installed on May 21, 1867, and preached forty-two years. After 1909 he finished his days here as Pastor Emeritus.
The schoolhouses of the early colonists were one-room structures with little equipment, but East Hampton was fortunate in having the notable Charles Barnes as its first schoolmaster. In later years, for the younger children came the Dame Schools, so called because a woman was in charge.
John Howard Payne wrote of one school in his time: "I must not omit to name the public edifices. Of these, a one-story wooden build- ing, eighteen feet square, is perhaps the oldest and it has been for time immemorial alternately made use of as a schoolhouse and town hall. The presiding divinity of this temple of learning in ancient times was a celebrated dame who used to threaten her male and female little ones with the terrors of sarpints and scorpings in an awful cellar underneath if they did not mind their letters and their sewing." According to Payne, introducing sewing into the school curriculum is not a modern custom. Could it have been a famous first on Long Island ?
This school was probably located in East Hampton's Town House, built in 1731, said by some to be the oldest public building in Suffolk County. It was used as a seat of government, for a school and for prayer meetings before the Session House was built. A later generation listened there to the first sermon of Reverend T. DeWitt Talmage, his text being "The World is My Field".
The town's first district school was in "The Hook" at the north end of East Hampton. It is now the Methodist Church Parlor or Hall.
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About 1868, the south end district built a schoolhouse on the Bridge- hampton road. It is now a summer cottage. For years before it was built, the south district had hired the Town House for school pur- poses. In the 1890's, more room was needed and a Union Grade School followed. In 1924 that was condemned, sold to the Masonic Lodge, moved to Main Street, and remodeled for their use. During World War II, it sheltered and offered comfort to thousands of boys in service. Also in 1924 the present high school was built. Its portico and doorway is indeed a work of art.
Forty years after the building of the first Union School, the number of graduates had increased from five to fifty. The ordinary courses have been changed and increased with music, shop, home economics, art, dramatic work and sports. A school nurse is hired. Hot lunches are served. In short, it is a highly accredited Regent's High School, where a student may take an adequate college prepara- tory course.
But the old district schools also produced good results. Gardiner says in his Chronicles of East Hampton: "As early as 1711 when a classical education was hard to obtain and the number of graduates at the few colleges then established was very limited, Harvard and Yale numbered several from East Hampton in the list of their stu- dents and graduates."
In 1784, after the Revolutionary War, Dr. Samuel Buell, third pastor of the community, promoted education by founding Clinton Academy, named for Governor George Clinton. It was opened for use in 1785 and chartered in 1787 on the same day as Erasmus of Brook- lyn, November 20, and was the first academical institution in New York under state supervision if these two were listed alphabetically, as probably they were. There has been a conflicting claim, but that is unimportant.
Governor Clinton, during his second term, presented the academy with a bell and came to East Hampton for the opening. It was a thrilling event. Dr. John Sage has left his memory of it as told in his daughter's book: "I remember the governor's visit to East Hamp- ton. It made a great stir in the town and as the academy was the first place he was to present himself, it was there the people congre- gated. The boys were ordered to be in line in front of the academy and everybody awaited the arrival which was to be heralded by the blowing of a horn as the stage entered Buell Lane. The stage horn sounded, the bell rung, and the stage came into view at the turning of the lane into the street. The scholars waved their hats and hur- rahed! After this a boy stepped forward and pronounced an address of welcome to the governor. Samuel Huntting was the proud orator. He was a handsome boy and he did it admirably."
The first teachers at Clinton Academy were Jabez Peck, master of the classical department, and William Payne, father of John Howard Payne, master of English and Writing. There was an aver- age of eighty students for the first forty years. They came from many places, including the West Indies. In 1815, the banner year, the Academy boasted a classical library, a telescope, microscope, air-
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pump, quadrant, surveyor's compass and a small orrery. That year there were 156 students.
Forty years later, interest waned, patrons neglected to subscribe, younger and less experienced teachers were hired, and public schools were growing. So Clinton Academy, which had made its mark on so many students and produced so many shining minds, ceased in 1868 to report to the State Regents.
All feel that Dr. Buell, the kindly old pastor who did so much for the cause, merits a place in East Hampton's Hall of Fame.
In the Academy's heyday notable dramatic performances were staged. Quoting from a writer of former years, "The scenery was limited in character, but the costumes were often showy and the
Clinton Academy, East Hampton
elocution by no means unworthy the play or the care taken to make these exhibitions a success. People came from all parts of Long Island and from Connecticut to be present at a two-days' exhibition of old Clinton Academy."
From time to time, there have been other schools, especially in the summer season; a school of the dance, an art school and the Rollins School of the Theatre founded in 1935. The Rollins School prospered and has been the means of discovering many young actors for the New York stage. In 1945 this school was moved to Lenox, Massachusetts.
The public library has been a great factor to the cause of educa- tion in East Hampton. One hundred ninety-two years ago, in 1753, Reverend Samuel Buell and a few others started the Philogrammati- can Library. A small number of its books are still in existence. They were found in Clinton Academy. Another library was organized in 1805 with about 70 shareholders. They had no building to house the
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614 books they owned, so these were kept in a very unhandy place, the librarian's attic.
In 1897, the East Hampton Free Library was organized and located in the annex of Clinton Hall, the old Academy remodeled and enlarged. In after years the Academy was restored to its original form and is now the museum of the East Hampton Historical Society.
In 1911 the present library was built, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Woodhouse. A corporation was organized and a charter ob- tained. For thirty-five years it has been the recipient of many useful and beautiful gifts and additions. In 1930 among notable gifts were the Gardiner Memorial room, cloister and reading room, the Moran paintings and a "Home, Sweet Home" painting by Childe Hassam.
A most distinguished gift came from Morton Pennypacker, his Long Island collection of books and manuscripts. This is valuable not alone to East Hampton, but to all Long Island; yes, to the United States, since descendants of the town's first settlers have wandered far. Sixteen foreign nations have here inquired about Long Island. The collection is rapidly growing. Even now the size of the fireproof room that houses the collection is being doubled, made possible by many generous and interested friends. The custodians are still dream- ing of a future with enough trained assistants to make it possible to give researchers and writers the wholehearted efficient service they need.
In 1902 the number of volumes in the general library was 2826 and the circulation was 6221. Thirty years later, the number of volumes had reached 16,056 and the circulation was 37,397. This seemed to be the banner year for circulation. There are, at present, in the general library, 21,796 books. In the Long Island Collection there are 35,000 books and other items.
The library keeps in close touch with the public school and is of inestimable value to the cause of education. Quoting the closing para- graph of the 1945 report of Mrs. Morton Pennypacker, librarian for forty-eight years: "The possibilities of ever widening future activi- ties are beckoning the East Hampton Free Library. It is fortunate in having sponsors and friends who recognize and respond to the call."
Guild Hall, the greater part of which was a gift from Mr. and
. Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, the rest from the community, offers much to the cause of education in East Hampton town. It was announced at its opening in 1931 that "the purpose of Guild Hall is to cultivate and encourage a taste for the arts through the presenta- tion of drama and music; to provide galleries for the display of objects of artistic and historic interest; to furnish a meeting place for committees and organizations; to promote and encourage a finer type of citizenship."
Guild Hall's lovely white-painted brick building, long and low, with its artistic entrance blending in perfect keeping with its setting, was designed by Aymar Embury who also planned the library across the street. The Hall's modest little gardens were done by Ruth Deane. The building contains three art galleries and the well-equipped John
L. I .- I-16
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Drew Theatre with a seating capacity of 410. Entertainments of all varieties have been produced herein and famous names have appeared on its programs, among them Cornelia Otis Skinner, James Melton, Gladys Swarthout, and many more.
The little playhouse might well be a model for all summer theatres. There is an active group of young students who, for several years, have worked at dramatic productions here. They are the Guild Hall Players. During the war, they gave their shows to groups of Service Men and are still doing their bit to entertain hospitalized soldiers at Camp Upton.
East Hampton Town, being what and where it is, has been the locale of many shipwrecks. The eastern point of Fort Pond Bay at Montauk was named for the British ship Culloden which sank there in a storm in 1781 when England was having trouble with the French Navy. The copper, guns and other material were salvaged and the frigate was burned to the water. The damage done to the British fleet at this time by the same storm caused the British much dis- couragement. Shortly thereafter they lost an engagement with the French fleet which greatly helped the American cause.
Another famous wreck in these parts occurred in 1858, and has ever since been mentioned with horror and sadness for more than twenty of the doomed ship's crew perished in the icy surf of Montauk. The John Milton had loaded at the Chinca Islands and on February the fourteenth, 1858, she found herself in Hampton Roads, Virginia, clearing for New Bedford, Massachusetts. Strong winds arose, fol- lowed by thick snow with the mercury down to eight degrees. The ship lost its bearings. Finally, glimpsing a steady beam of light which had always marked Montauk, but which had but recently been transferred to a new lighthouse at Pon Quogue, some miles to the west, the Milton piled up on the rockbound coast of Montauk, whose recently installed intermittent beacon had further confused the ship's skipper.
Twenty-two frozen bodies were taken from the surf and carried over roads deep with snow to East Hampton, where in the Colonial Church across from Clinton Academy a funeral service was held by the Reverend Stephen Mershon and a mass burial took place in the old South End Graveyard by Town Pond.
Mr. Mershon chose a text from Job twenty-seven, twenty, and twenty-one: "Terrors take hold on him as waters; a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away and he departeth, and as a storm, hurleth him out of his place."
The ship's bell now hangs in the steeple of East Hampton's Presbyterian Chapel and may still be heard pealing out its strange mournful note, a perpetual reminder of the tragic end of the John Milton.
The Revolution in East Hampton, stories of the sufferings and privations of the citizens, of Dr. Buell's fearlessness before arrogant officers, all the poverty, bitter treatment, raids on the crops, etc., would take volumes. Patriotism filled the hearts of the townsmen. Everyone to a man signed the Articles of Association and many
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served the colony in countless ways and places, at Ticonderoga, on privateering ships, in the Battle of Long Island and many other engagements.
Well known are the stories of Captain Mulford's commendation by George Washington, the false oath of allegiance to the King and the saving diplomacy of Dr. Buell. Recalled, too, is Captain Dayton's narrow escape at "The Cricks", the story of Pudding Hill and of Major Andre at the Gardiner house on Main Street, but they have been told and retold too many times.
(Photo Courtesy of The Historic American Building Survey, Library of Congress) Mulford Farmhouse, East Hampton
In the War of 1812, a number of East Hampton men were impressed into service for Britain and several farms at Northwest were raided. One local story of this war was that of the capture of Joshua Penny. A book published in 1815, entitled Life and Adven- tures, tells this thrilling tale.
Nearly 200 men from East Hampton served in the Civil War, while the Spanish-American War in 1898 recalls Fort Tyler, commonly called "Old Fort". It was started in a hurry as one of a chain of forts to protect Long Island Sound and New York City. It was never completed. The war was short and now what little is left of "Old Fort" is a haven for fishermen, picnickers, and seagulls and is gradu- ally eroding. Detention Camp Wikof at Montauk is mostly a memory of yellow fever and typhoid. There, after the Cuban campaign, Teddy Roosevelt used to be seen galloping over the hills with his famous Rough Riders.
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