Southampton, New York lies along the Eastern coast line on the shores of the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
Steeped in history, this town is a sprawling stretch of farm fields, pine barrens and ocean dunes and is the most beautiful part of the island known as Long Island, named Long Island because it is. The Village of Southampton is located on the Atlantic, and siddles up to the vast Shinnecock Bay. This village is where the original settlers came to establish a way of life that has persisted down through the last few centuries.
Did you know that Southampton is the oldest village on the East Coast? Before the whaling town of Sag Harbor was established, before the rest of the Hampton's was anything but a campground for the Shinnecock Indians, an Algonquin tribe, Southampton was a raw outpost in the woods and seagrasses of this oceanfront wilderness.
Did you know that it was founded in 1640 after the earliest colonists came down the shoreline of the Atlantic, from Boston Massachusetts to Conscience Point? This sparsely populated community, in it's infancy, was a collection of Englishmen and women who came down the coastline, searching for what is now known as the Great Peconic Bay and it's surrounding bodies of water. This location was originally owned by Charles I from England and was acquired by the colonists for a new settlement.
Did you know that the earliest families that settled here in those first days are still here? As these families settled in with the help of the Shinnecock Indians, they had a series of paths that went from the bay to the ocean and back again. In addition to settling in close to the banks of Peconic Bay, they also traveled by the path that is now known as Old Town Road, to a location that is still here: a grassy knoll on the corner of Toylsome Lane and Old Town Road where the colonists built dug-outs and sod roof huts to live in while they established the eventual village of Southampton. The Halseys, the James, the Rogers and others have their roots here and they have thrived here as well. Southampton remained a "sleepy backwater" town until the Long Island Railroad opened it to the wealthy New Yorkers who chose to spend their summers here. Travel between the city and Southampton, changed everything forever for this area...and literally brought the world to the shores of the most beautiful white sand beaches anywhere.
Did you know that Southampton is the only village on the Eastern end of Long Island that is built right on the ocean? Come see our beautiful seashore and enjoy the ocean even in winter!
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