Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Hither Woods: Refuge, Land Agreements and Continuing Rights

A Montaukett agreement made during displacement helped English East Hampton claim Hither Woods, but also preserved Native houses, firewood and protections for planted corn. Its promises and restrictions show how land control changed without ending Native relationships. The same document that supported English possession also preserved Montaukett homes, resources and an obligation to provide refuge. Those terms make continuing Native rights and colonial restrictions visible together. A homeland between Napeague and Montauk Hither Woods is the wooded western part of the Montauk peninsula, east of Napeague and extending toward Fort Pond. It is part of Montaukett homeland. Its land history includes a distinct agreement in 1661/62, before the later transactions farther east and long before the 1879 Montauk auction. Reading these as separate events shows how English control expanded through...