Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Quadams Hill

Quadams is recorded as a hill in the Indian Field near Oyster Pond at Montauk. The name appears to preserve a personal name attached to a feature in the Montaukett landscape. The hill belongs to the broader Indian Field and Oyster Pond landscape at Montauk. Its exact location remains uncertain. No separate linguistic translation is given. Quadams appears to be an English possessive form from Quad-am, probably the name of a Native person who lived on or near the hill. Why Place Names Matter “It's characteristic of place names that some of the oldest and most persistent are the names of rivers, because they touch the lives of so many people and because they're such a stable feature in the overall landscape.” — William Cronon, Names on the Land: Place Names as Historical Evidence (2018), Section III, river-name discussion