Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Jabash

Jabash is a Shinnecock Neck placename recorded by William Wallace Tooker for a cove on the east side of the neck. one Native resident on the neck called it Irabash cove. Although archaeological investigations have not yet uncovered physical artifacts at the Jabash village site, the fact that an Indigenous trail formed the basis for the modern Montauk Highway underscores a profound historical continuity. Recognizing these original travel routes reminds us that the everyday infrastructure of Long Island was actively carved out and utilized by Native peoples long before European paved roads. No settled translation is given for Jabash. The main alternate form in his entry is Irabash, used in the phrase Irabash cove. Why Place Names Matter “Knowledge was passed directly from Elders to youth through experience, language, and story. Place names carry law, memory, and instruction.”...