Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Potunk Neck (Westhampton)

Potunk is a Westhampton placename for Potunk Neck and nearby meadowland, recorded in seventeenth-century Southampton and East Hampton references and interpreted as a boggy place. Potunk is associated with a Westhampton locality and neck landscape west of Ketchaponack and near Monabaugs in western Southampton town. Potunk belongs to the Westhampton neck-and-meadow landscape alongside Apocock, Monabaugs, Ketchaponack, and Wonunke. Boundary and meadow details appear in the historic moments below. Related forms include Potuncke, Potunck, Potunk, and Potonke. The name is interpreted as a bog, a place where the foot sinks, or land where one sinks in mire. Why Place Names Matter “Place names are among the most interesting and powerful documents we have for exploring changes to landscape over time.” — William Cronon, Names on the Land: Place Names as Historical Evidence (2018),...