Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Keemiscomock

Keemiscomock is recorded by William Wallace Tooker as a small brook dividing the shores of Saghtekoos, also known as Apple Tree Neck, in Islip. The same brook was also called Weepoose. The history relies on Richard M. Bayles and cautions that no earlier authority had been found, and that Bayles could not recall where he obtained the name. The placename is useful, but it needs careful citation and location review. The name is interpreted Keemiscomock as a secret enclosed place or a place of refuge. He breaks the name into a word for secret and a second element meaning enclosed place. Weepoose is kept as a related brook name and may connect with Seapoose, interpreted as little river. Why Place Names Matter “Place names are “mnemonic” devices for Indigenous peoples. As an oral society, the names chosen for geographical sites carry history, traditional environmental/ecological...