Excavation in Brookhaven, NY

The first known inhabitants were Algonquian-speaking Native Americans, of the Setauket and Unkechaug tribes. The first English settlers arrived around 1640, and in 1655, several purchased Brookhaven’s land from its tribal inhabitants. The latter founding year was recognized in 1976, when the Brookhaven Town Bicentennial Commission proposed setting the date on the seal to 1655 in line with this first deed of settlement of the town of Brookhaven at Setauket on April 14, 1655. Considering this founding year of 1655, Brookhaven is the fifth English township on Long Island following Southampton, Southold, Huntington, and East Hampton.

The first English settlement was named “Setauket” after the Native American tribe. The names “Brookhaven” and “Setauket” were initially used interchangeably to describe the village or the town. The verbal division between the smaller hamlet of Setauket and township of Brookhaven was not set until well into the 19th century. A point of confusion is the existence of the hamlet named Brookhaven, which was in fact named for the township in 1879. Other names used in the settlement’s first decades were “Ashford”, after Ashford, Kent, in England, and “Cromwell Bay”, for English Protestant leader Oliver Cromwell.

The original purchase from the native Setalcott tribe that took place in 1655 encompassed the land making up present-day Setauket, Stony Brook, and Port Jefferson. A second purchase was made by Richard Woodhull in 1664 expanded this tract eastward along the North Shore to additionally include all lands from the Old Mans area (Mount Sinai and Miller Place) to Wading River. Richard Woodhull was the direct heir of Eustace de Vesci, a British noble who was a signator of the Magna Charta. Another land purchase in the same year expanded Brookhaven to the South Shore of Long Island.