Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Moriches

Moriches is a south-shore Brookhaven placename connected with a neck of land at Unquichoge and with the later hamlets of Moriches, Center Moriches, and East Moriches. Early forms include Merquices and Meritche. Moriches names a south-shore landscape in eastern Brookhaven. In William Wallace Tooker's placename study, the name is tied to a neck of land at Unquichoge and to later village names along Moriches Bay. Moriches neck, the later hamlet names, and related Moriches Bay geography are brought together here. Time-specific land-title context is handled as a Historic Moment. Alternate forms include Merquices and Meritche. The meaning of Meritche is uncertain; the history discusses a personal-name compound glossed as Meritche's old woman, with the old-woman element compared to Montauk and Narragansett forms. Why Place Names Matter “If place names are left undocumented then the owners...