August 25, 1983 - 300 Years Ago...SECOND SECTION
The *Uffolk Times August 25, 1983
300 Years Ago...
By PAUL STOUTENBURGH
What was Long Island like 300 years
ago? There is much celebrating and
folderol about this day in time but when it
comes right down to it we know very little
about what our East End looked like in
those early days.This is a common fault
of much of our history. At the time no
thought was given to recording the
common and usual things of the day.
With that in mind, we have to put our own
imagination to work and try to visualize
what the East End looked like to those
early settlers.
Of course we all know that Indians
were common here on most of Long
Island when the white man came. Our
local Indians were quite different from
those pictured riding wild, painted horses
across the vast plains of the west. They
didn't live in tepees either.
Our Indians traveled mostly by dugout
canoes and not the story book birch bark
canoe of the northern Indians. And for
homesites they lived in crude skin -
covered huts. Our creeks with their then
bountiful supply of clams of all sorts,
mussels, oysters along with an ever -
changing supply of fish and wildlife made
these areas ideal settling places for the
Indians.
They were expert fishermen, having
improvised bone hooks and elaborate
weirs to catch their fish. Actually they
were the forerunners of the fish traps you
see along our bays today. Evidence of
their use of our creeks is documented by
the numerous shell heaps that were and
are still found around the perimeters of
our marshes. In East Creek when I was a
kid I can remember finding these places
where shells would literally be a foot
thick on the banks of the creek. These
were probably accumulations of years
and years of living.
Important Wampum Area
Then, of course, the shells themselves
were used for making wampum. The
dark purple of the hard clam, we're told,
was especially valuable for the darker
the wampum bead, the higher its value.
The center spiral of the scungilli or whelk
was another important part of the shell
the Long Island Indians used in making
their wampum. Documents tell of the
Dutch sending boats all the way out from
New Amsterdam, now New York City, to
barter for this wampum as it was the
currency of the early times.
Our Indian heritage is still much in
evidence in the names we find scattered
about our island -- Montauk, Shinnecock,
Quogue, Aquebogue, Cutchogue, Pat-
chogue, the list goes on and on. The tribes
of Long Island lived in forts or enclosures
for protection from the marauding tribes
from across the Sound. Fort Corchaug
has been well documented by the noted
archaeologist Dr. Ralph Solecki of Cut -
chogue. I visited the Cutchogue site years
ago with Dr: Solecki and others and he
told us how important our creeks and
bays were to their way of life.
In those early days Mattituck Creek
ran almost into Peconic Bay; there being
only a narrow strip of land separating
them. It wasn't too long ago I can
remember that Westphalia Avenue had a
bridge over the headwaters of Mattituck
Creek. Today that valuable estuary has
been filled with dredge spoil and the road
and houses have been built atop where
the Indians once portaged their canoes
from Mattituck Creek over to_ James
Creek and then into the bay. Once in the
bay the Indian could then work. his way
along the shores of Shinnecock and
portage to the south shore bays and
creeks.
Settlers, Indians Used Marsh
Three hundred years ago the white
man was well established on the East
End of Long Island and he, like the
Indian, used the marshes and creeks to
the fullest. The first settlers carried with
them the tools and customs that they
were acquainted with in the old country.
From the creeks, the tall thatch grass,
that is still so common along our
waterways, was used for roofing ma-
terial and the salt hay, which is the
shorter grass in our creeks, was cut for
bedding and feed for the cattle. Shellfish,
easily gathered, was a staple part of the
early settlers' diet and the shell remains
around their settlements are a constant
reminder of their use.
The woods for the early settlers were
something to be conquered. Cut and
cleared, the wood was used for homes,
boats, tools and, of course, firewood. In
contrast the marshes were open and
cattle could be grazed in them until
better upland pasture was cleared and
planted. Early records of our town show
innumerable transfers of marshes for
thatch, showing how important these
parcels were to the early settlers.
Eagles, along with the osprey, were
common nesters here on the east end of
the island. It was a time when the
menhaden or bunkers were to be found in
schools by the millions in all our bays.
Easily rounded up and caught, these fish
were used for fertilizer. Every school boy
knows the Indians taught the white man
how to use one fish under each hill of
corn. This tradition of catching bunkers
in our local water lasted until a few
years ago and many of us can still
remember the great bunker boats that
created a thriving industry in Greenport
not too long ago.
The Long Island Indians were gifted
whalers, using their craft off our ocean
beaches to capture the great whales.
Here again the white man followed and
improved on this dangerous art. Today it
is a rare sight indeed to see a whale off
our beaches. Porpoises were also com-
mon up to the 40s when almost any day
you could see them frolicking in the bay
or Sound. One of the great moments in
my life was when my wife and I canoed
out into a school of these sleek graceful
mammals as they moved westward
through the Sound.
Varieties of Wildlife
During those early days not only the
deer and fox that still seem to be able to
live with man's intrusion but the bear,
the wolf, the beaver, the otter, the mink,
the skunk and others roamed our woods
and marshes. Today the average person
thinks of the grey squirrel, cottontail
rabbit and the pesky raccoon as our
wildlife. Also added today's "common"
wildlife list might be the slow- moving
opossum that was not even around in
those early days. Like the cardinal, the
mocking bird, the red - bellied woodpeck-
er and titmouse, they are creatures from
the south and have only recently found a
place in the north. Of course, the starling,
English sparrow and lately the house
finch were not here either as they came
DEAD ELM TREE- -300 years ago the elms flourished through our woods.
Today most have been killed by Dutch elm disease. The osprey nest
shown here being checked for young went down with the tree in 1971.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
to us as escapees from Europe. Two
other birds we should mention -- the
white cattle egret and the dark ibis with
its long curved bill both apparently came
to us from tropical parts of the old world.
The great hardwood forests that once
covered our island have all but gone.
What we see now is second growth, for
most of our land was cleared for farming
and grazing. Gone are the great stands
of oak and chestnut that were so impor-
tant to the early settlers. Old oak and
chestnut timbers are still found in the
hand -hewn beams of old homes and
barns.
The great umbrella trees, the elms,
have just about given up in this country.
Yet their story of pomp and beauty was
with us until what seemed just a few
years ago. I recall the hurricane of '38
that devastated these handsome trees in
all our villages. Ironically it wasn't the
hurricane that did them in but a blight
brought from Europe.,
Our island has changed much since the
early days. Yet 300 years ago the East
End lured the early settlers with its clean
water, productive land and open space
which we today find ourselves desperate-
ly striving to hold on to.
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