Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Captree and the Bay Islands: Native Agreements and Competing Claims

Secatogue people named in a 1705 beach deed, an English island patent, and rival town claims all belong in this history. The 1814 decree rejected both litigants’ titles to Captree, Oak and Grass; later town agreements did not constitute new Native consent. Naming the Native parties and colonial trustees makes responsibility visible. The island lawsuit and later town quitclaim show that paper claims could conflict; they do not prove Native consent, disappearance or the end of relationships with the bay. A homeland across beach and bay Captree is a low marsh island north of Captree State Park, crossed today by Robert Moses Causeway. It sits within a coastal landscape shaped by Native relationships long before English towns and estates. The National Park Service describes Unkechaug, Secatogue and Shinnecock connections to the neighboring barrier beach and waters, and continuing Native...