The Greater Westhampton community is composed of several incorporated villages and hamlets in the western portion of the Township of Southampton on the East End of Long Island – “The Hamptons.” Here you will find the Incorporated Villages of Westhampton Beach, Quogue and West Hampton Dunes mixed with the hamlets of Remsenburg, Speonk, Westhampton and Quiogue. Each offers a unique blend of history, beauty and character that makes these communities special and stand out as the “First Hampton.”

Town of Southampton – The Early Years

The First English Settlement in the State of New York was at Southampton, Long Island in 1640. An advanced party came from Lynn, Massachusetts to arrange the land purchase from the Shinnecock Indian Nation and to begin planting and building on the land obtained from the natives. The original settlers included 8 men, 1 woman and a boy who came ashore at Conscience Point. These men were Edward Howell, Edmond Farrington, Edmund Needham, Thomas Sayre, Josiah Stanborough, George Welbe, Henry Walton, and Job Sayre. Before the company departed Lynn, twelve more families were added: Danie How, John Cooper, Thomas Stephens, Allen Breed, William Harker, Christian Connolly, Thomas Halsey, Thomas Newell, John Farrington, Richard Odell, Philip Kyrtand, Nathaniel Kirtland, Thomas Farrington, and Thamas Terry.

By July 7, 1640, they had determined the town boundaries. During the next few years (1640-1643), Southampton was further increased in population by 43 families. The first meeting house was on a hill that is the site of the current Southampton Hospital. The oldest existent house in the town was built by Thomas Halsey, one of the first Englishmen to trade with the Shinnecocks.

With the help of the local Shinnecock Indian Nation, the settlers planted corn, learned about off-shore whaling, gathered herbs and edible items, burned whale oil for light and made candles from bayberries gathered by the settlement children. The Settlement at Southampton became almost self-sustaining and before long built wooden houses. 1648, the original site of Southampton was now at capacity as new settlers started to arrive. At town meetings, the residents decided to expand the settlement, laying out new streets and land allocations. The Southampton settlement was a success. Within a few years, more settlers from Massachusetts and Rhode Island settled the land surrounding the first settlement of Southampton.

Our Villages and Hamlets Today

In Remsenburg one may enjoy the white picket fences, the majestic maples, and the classic single lanes ending at the bay connecting the country chapels, tiny post office and The Remsenburg Academy. The term “bucolic” always seems to fit this quaint community as one bikes along the roadways or is setting the sunfish in the bay at the Yacht Squadron.

Just to the north you’ll find Speonk with local shopping and services at the Village Commons and around the Long Island Rail Road station, famous for the conductors’ bellow “Last Stop” as you approach this hamlet by rail at 12:27 in the early morning hours. Once upon a time there once was no service further east of this community which is home to the LIRR Service Depot.

Heading east the historic Old Fordham Mill signifies you have come to Westhampton. Originally called Ketchabonack, Westhampton is predominantly a residential community filled with housing subdivisions both to the north and south of the main connector road – Montauk Highway. Along this route one will find a series of small businesses dotting the landscape all the way up to the historic castle at Casa Basso overlooking Beaver Dam Creek. The main hamlet centrum is located just above and beyond the Montauk Highway and Mill Road intersection.

Westhampton Beach is the largest of the destinations with a busy Main Street downtown area featuring shopping at new and classic boutiques, dining in cafes, bistros and Zagat-rated restaurants as well as being home to a state-of-the-art performing arts facility bringing in the best acts of the entertainment world to it’s stage. The village is very water centric with its’ yacht basin and marina, Moniebogue Canal weaving up to the back parking lot of Main Street and dual drawbridges at Beach Lane and Jessup Lane providing access to the superb white sugar sand of the Atlantic Ocean on the barrier beach portion of the village most commonly referred to as Dune Road. Entering town from the north there is a continuous concentration of service industries, the Frances S. Gabreski Airport, home of the 106th Air National Guard, and the soon to be Hamptons Technology Park – a new commercial feature that has just broken ground that is bound to change the business face of the Greater Westhampton communities for generations to come.

Traveling further west along the Dune Road barrier beach you will find the newest of our incorporated villages, West Hampton Dunes. Totally re-invented in 1993, this ocean and bay front residential barrier beach community now exists because of one of the grandest federally funded beach restoration projects ever undertaken in the United States. The traditional and contemporary architecture of the community amazes most who know the truly unique history of this reborn area. Visitors wanting beach access usually head to Cupsogue County Park for their day in the sun just beyond this community to the west.
The hamlet of Quiogue is an unincorporated portion of Westhampton Beach bordered by Aspatuck Creek, Quantuck Bay and Quantuck Creek. Drive over Main Street’s Turkey Bridge or the Brook Road Duck Pond from the west and this community’s local parish churches, horse and llama farms and bay front estates unfold.

You’ll know you’ve entered the Incorporated Village of Quogue the moment you notice the endless lines of hedgerow along the streets and surrounding the historic manses of this beautiful village. The small village centrum has just about all you would need for a peaceful summer vacation. You’ll find trails filled with hikers and bird watchers around Ice Pond at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, the grounds of the Quogue Field Club dotted with golfers during the day and a single drawbridge at Post Lane leading down to the beach clubs of Dune Road. On the northern side of the village one will find the Old Country area lined with the service providers that make this community run year-round.

We hope that you explore each of these wonderful villages and hamlets completely and take the time to review each of their detailed community listings here on our website. The communities of  “The First Hamptons” welcome you.