Q&A: Hugh King on East Hampton's 375th and How It Has Celebrated Its History Over the Years

Hugh King, the colorful East Hampton Town historian, will be featured on Thursday, June 29, at 5:30 p.m. in a free talk at East Hampton Library. He will join Andrea Meyer, head of the library’s Long Island Collection, for a presentation titled “Ruth Benjamin Finds Her ‘Home, Sweet Home.”

Last week, King, 81, spoke via telephone from his home in Amagansett on the occasion of the town’s 375th anniversary celebration, which kicked off with a “history fair” on the Town Hall campus on Saturday afternoon. The interview has been edited lightly for clarity and length.

Q: Tell me a little bit about East Hampton 375 years ago. How would you describe it?

The first thing we have to remember is that East Hampton was not settled 375 years ago — because the Montaukett Indians were here. As the Shinnecock told the people in Southampton, “You’re second.” I think that’s the first thing we have to remember, is that there were people here before. Okay?

Q: Sure. Absolutely.

We also need to remind people that there were enslaved people here, pretty much from the beginning of the settlement. Which, of course, started around the area by Town Pond in East Hampton, where the Village Green is. The lots went back toward Hook Pond. They were very narrow and about 9 ½ acres. They settled around the green. Then they went the other way, up to where … the road used to be called Highway Behind the Lots, but they changed it to Toilsome Lane, for some stupid reason.

And, of course, they settled near the water. There’s Hook Pond, and then the ocean. And then they eventually dug out the area around Town Pond, to make a pond there.

Q: In 1648, then, when the town was founded, it was very small, right?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know where the Hook Windmill is, the windmill in the village? That was about the end of the settlement. If you go from Town Pond all the way to the Hook Windmill, that was the settlement, right there.

Q: How many people? You said about 20 families?

Well, the initial families were, yeah, maybe 20 or 30 … Well, not 20, 30 families, but there were like eight or nine families that came. And then they were joined by others … They came from Southampton or from Connecticut. Those were the two places where they came from.

Q: Did they all arrive together?

I don’t know that. I don’t think anybody knows that.

They’re calling 1648 the date, because that’s when the deed was … There’s a deed in the town records saying that they’re going to buy these 31,000 acres of land here. That’s what they’re basing the 1648 date on. They could have come here a year earlier, knowing they were going to do it and starting to build their houses. Or they could have come a year later, after the deed was signed. You see?

That’s a good question. I don’t know if they all came at once. If you start looking at the town records, I mean, they’re beginning to meet pretty quickly. So they had to probably be here … They probably did come together. I don’t think one person would’ve showed up, and then two or three others. That’s a good question. Yeah, I’m not sure.

Q: What was the relationship like with the Native population when they arrived?

Well, there wasn’t much of a relationship until they started … once they realized that Montauk was a wonderful place for pasture, they decided to begin negotiating with the Montauketts for sending the animals down there. You know, the annual cattle, horse, sheep drive. I think it started as early as the 1660s.

We also have to remember that the idea of land ownership to the English was very different from the way the Montauketts and the Natives felt about it. There’s a whole record of deeds where the Indians are deeding the land over to the English in East Hampton. So then they could pass their animals down there. But I think those were treaties, where you allowed the people from East Hampton to go down there, keep their animals there, and you still got the use of your land, you see, for fishing and hunting.

So it began right away, basically because of Montauk. I think because of the pastures. The Montauketts, I’m pretty sure … Now, I’m not an expert on the Montauk Indians, okay? But I’m pretty sure they were somewhat decimated, even by 1648, because the Narragansetts and the Pequots were coming over here, I think, and demanding tribute from the Montauketts.

That’s the reason why the Shelter Island sachem and the other sachems were agreeable to Lion Gardiner buying that island. Everyone thinks that they got bamboozled by the small amount of whatever it was that they paid for it, but they figured — and I think Wyandanch may have figured this — that if you had an English presence in around East Hampton then it would be more difficult for those Indians from Connecticut to come over and attack.

Q: I see.

Nobody would give Wyandanch or the Native Americans any credit for being ahead of the game. You know what I mean?

Q: The settlement began with farmers, and I’m guessing a certain amount of trading. As the years went on, what became East Hampton’s primary economy? What drove the economy?

When it began, it was animal husbandry. They raised animals: cattle, sheep and horses. Whatever grains, I think, that they raised, they were fed to the animals.

There’s Northwest Harbor — there was, in the 1700s, a viable harbor there. Abraham Schellenger and Samuel “Fish Hook” Mulford were running products out of there to Connecticut and New York. That was an occupation, raising animals and then sending them off someplace.

And then, of course, there was whaling, offshore whaling, that began somewhere around 1700. They would use the Montauketts as members of their whaling crews.

And then the resort — the whole resort idea, now, it didn’t … Cornelia Huntington wrote a book in 1857. It was called “Sea Spray.” That’s where the Sea Spray cottages, or hotel, I guess, got its name. It was a thinly veiled story of East Hampton.

In August, this place was packed with people, even before the Civil War. And then, of course, after the war, when ministers built cottages … Now, when I say “cottage,” I’m talking about the Newport cottages, you know? They built them along Lily Pond Lane and Cottage Avenue, all up in that area.

And then when the Tile Club came out here, the artists came out here. The artists came, the landscape artists, they came out here because of the light. The light out here was just spectacular.

Of course, the great Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran built a studio, the first full-time art studio here. And then, of course, when the railroad reaches Bridgehampton in 1870, so you could take the railroad there. They get a carriage to come to East Hampton. They first started boarding in houses, and then they finally decided they were going to build their own.

That’s how we progressed. Does that make sense?

Q: It does. I’m curious: I’m guessing that there were a lot of early settlements in the 1600s and 1700s that didn’t really take root and become anything. What is it that made East Hampton one of the places that not just survived but became a thriving community?

The water. I think the ocean, the water. And Montauk. I mean, how was this community going to survive by selling their product? They wouldn’t have a product if they couldn’t send it down to Montauk to pasture all year. And then bring them back in the fall, and then ship them away to different places. And then, because of the water, this is what drew people out here.

Q: So you had all the different elements. And you had the transportation. You could get the animals out because it was a waterfront.

Yeah. Northwest Harbor was a busy place, apparently, at one time. Now, supposedly, it wasn’t deep enough for big ships to come in. That’s why they built Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. That’s where the whaling trade perked up.

But, yeah, we had the water. I guess we can’t overemphasize this idea of the water. Even today, no matter what happens to you, no matter what kind of day you had, you can go down to the ocean and just sit there. That’s special. In Indiana, you can’t do that.

Q: So over the years, East Hampton has always paid tribute to its history, right? They have the celebration pretty regularly over the years. What’s that look like?

Well, the first celebrations began in 1849, because everyone thought 1649 was the year that East Hampton was settled, until Morton Pennypacker found that 1648 deed. So, in 1948, they started celebrating on the eights. But they had one in 1849. And then they did one in 1899. Then they did one in 1924.

The one in ’24, John Drew attended with … I think it was Billie Burke, the wife of Florenz Ziegfeld. Laurette Taylor was supposed to come, too. She was the great … the “Glass Menagerie” actress. They had this huge performance on the Green in 1924.

And then in 1948, the late great Enez Whipple put together another cavalcade of history, where the Guild Hall Players, the acting group that we were in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. They put on this show.

And then in 1998, of course, we had lectures throughout the year. Each community had an event. And then there was that big parade on Columbus Day weekend.

Don’t forget, East Hampton has had some great historians. Every time I do a talk, I wear a Carleton Kelsey hat. I don’t know if you ever heard of Carleton Kelsey. Carleton Kelsey was the late great historian. Carleton Kelsey and Mrs. Rattray … You know, Jeannette Edwards Rattray.

Q: Of course.

Sherrill Foster, C. Frank Dayton — these people were keeping history alive during the first half of the 20th century, where it kind of got lost in some ways. In fact, Lyman Beecher, who was our fourth minister, he gave a historic speech. Henry Hedges gave a historic speech in 1849, and in 1899. He was able to give a speech 50 years apart.

So, yes, I would say East Hampton has been always cognizant of its history.

Look at all the historic buildings we still have. If you come in to the light by Town Pond in East Hampton, and then you make a left, what do you see? You see Town Pond. You see the Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran House, a natural historic landmark. You see the cemetery. You see the 1804 Gardiner Mill. You see the 19th century Gardiner Mill Cottage. You see St. Luke’s Church. You see “Home, Sweet Home.” You see the Mulford House and the Mulford Barn, Guild Hall, the library, Clinton Academy. You keep going all the way to the Hook Mill — we have so many historic buildings still. And that’s only in the village.

Q: There’s lots to celebrate, basically.

I think there is.

Now, don’t forget, communities have been talking about their history all along since 1998. In other words, we didn’t stop doing history until the 375th came up. The East Hampton Historical Society has a whole series of lectures that they’ve given every year. Montauk has just opened up the Fisher House down there. These communities have been talking about history. So we don’t have to wait for the 375th to have a big splurge. We’ve been doing it all along.

The other important thing about this … I don’t know if you can do this — we’ve got to get rid of that terrible moniker, “The Hamptons.” We’re not The Hamptons, that pancake syrup of everybody together. Upscale, fashionable, trendy and unaffordable.

No! Montauk had its own history. It’s different from Springs, Amagansett, Wainscott, the village, Sag Harbor. We’re all different in so many ways. To be put all together into “The Hamptons” is just wrong, you know?

Q: Maybe it’s something we can fix for the 400th anniversary, when you’re around for that.

Yeah, right. If I’m around for that, you’re not going to want to hear me.