Opening from On This Site - Native Long Island

Western Southampton: Deeds, Native Objections and Colonial Power

Between Canoe Place and Seatuck, English settlers claimed land through overlapping agreements and a colonial governor’s ruling. Native people retained fishing and gathering rights, demanded continuing payments and challenged who had authority to sell. Westwoods remains Shinnecock land. A deed did not silence Native objections or erase every continuing right. Reading the agreements beside the protests and colonial rulings shows who asserted authority, what obligations remained, and why retained Shinnecock land must remain visible in the story. A Native landscape between two bays Western Southampton stretches from Canoe Place, at present-day Hampton Bays, toward Seatuck Creek at Eastport. To the north are the Peconic waters; to the south are the bays, creeks and beach landscapes around Quogue, Westhampton and Speonk. The colonial records describe an inhabited landscape through Native place...