HOUSE AND GARDEN 
204 
M 
ARCH, I9II 
were terrible. To harbor a 
Quaker was a crime, and 
the courts fined one man 
“for permitting Quakers to 
quake at his house in 
Gravesen d.” Neither 
threat, fine, imprisonment 
or banishment could detei 
these enthusiasts, and they 
suffered for a long period, 
living continually in appre¬ 
hension and danger. 
What with war and 
witchcraft, heathens and 
heretics, the times were 
strenuous. King Philip’s 
war on the mainland kept 
the people in fear of local 
outbreaks, and under arms 
even at church. Prosecu¬ 
tion and persecution seemed syn¬ 
onymous, security was unknown. 
Pirates continually sailed along the 
shore and dropped down to rob and 
plunder. In the records note is 
made of this situation in voting 
Cap. Kidd 150 pounds “for his 
many good services in attending 
with his vessel to guard against 
enemies and pirates.” But after 
being commissioned to protect the 
British interests in the east, he cap¬ 
tured a Moorish vessel and turned 
pirate himself, boldly cruising along the 
Malabar and Madagascar coasts in his 
Adventure Galley taking prizes and plun¬ 
der. In a rash moment he returned to 
Long Island waters and, after burying 
treasure on Gardiner's Island, was cap¬ 
tured and hung in 1701. Lyon Gardiner, 
who owned Gardiner’s Island, was aware 
of the location of the treasure and it was 
recovered to the State. Legend has it 
that much more is buried along the Sound 
shore, but the treasure referred to is 
probably the golden opportunity of the 
soil. 
The hardships of a new land were 
barely surmounted when the Long 
Islanders again found themselves em¬ 
broiled. Realizing the stategic impor¬ 
tance of this land, the first campaign was 
planned to get possession of it. Today 
there are few signs of the brave struggle 
of the Battle of Long Island, where the 
Colonists’ heroic efforts seemed in vain. 
After this defeat the Island was in com¬ 
plete control of the British, and suffered 
all the horrors of a local war until peace 
was declared. The prison-ships lay 
anchored at Walabout, each day bringing 
some new and ghastly tale of cruelty and 
death. The fields and farms were con¬ 
tinually sacked for the army, and the 
sons and fathers of the inhabitants im¬ 
pressed and shanghaied into the British 
service. Those who avoided these 
troubles had Hessians quar¬ 
tered upon them. To add 
to their pitiable condition 
both Whig and Tory suf¬ 
fered at the hands of the 
whaleboat men. 
The scoundrels and rif- 
raff that a war brings to the 
surface, under pretense of 
getting supplies for the 
British, preyed upon both 
sides. Landing in whale¬ 
boats, they robbed and 
plundered the inhabitants, 
often torturing them to re¬ 
veal the hiding places of 
their valuables. Lloyd's 
Neck, Sand’s Point, South- 
hold and Sag Harbor all 
have vivid recollections of 
terrors caused by this mode of war¬ 
fare. 
Peaceful day r s came at last and 
the ship-building and whaling 
trades again began to flourish. In 
the early days whalds were com¬ 
mon in the adjacent waters, and the 
inhabitants found their pursuit a 
profitable employment. To such an 
extent was the traffic carried on that 
ministers’ salaries were paid in oil. 
Every man of sufficient ability was 
obliged to take a turn in watching 
for whales from a lookout tower upon 
the beach. When one was seen, a gen¬ 
eral alarm was sounded and the boats 
manned for the chase. Today many 
relics of the time when Long Island was 
New England’s only rival in this roman¬ 
tic trade are still seen. 
LJxrn such a historical setting as this 
the ancestors of the sorely tried Colon¬ 
ists today dwell where their forefathers 
lived, and the scenes of former times are 
everywhere brought to mind in the sturdy 
old buildings of Colonial time, almost as 
sound as the day they were built. Some 
places, such as Easthampton, seem to re¬ 
tain all the characteristics of their former 
appearance. Almost every town has its 
old mansion or ancient farmhouse, about 
which such thrilling events took place— 
the Bowne House at Flushing, built in 
1761, where John Bowne suffered for 
his belief and where George Fox visited, 
the King Mansion at Jamaica, where 
Washington’s first ambassador lived, and 
many others too numerous to mention. 
In such surroundings lived the poets 
Whitman and Bryant, and John Howard 
Payne’s “Home, Sweet Home” was in¬ 
spired by his boyhood dwelling at East¬ 
hampton. Indeed his sentiments are felt 
by thousands, for Long Island is today 
the land of homes, and realizes an opin¬ 
ion expressed in 1638 — “it is worth nam¬ 
ing as affording many accommodations.” 
Long Island is not all flat plain—there is 
much of beautiful woodland, marked by 
great century-old trees 
Long Island is dotted with such farm-houses as this one, dating from 
Colonial times. They offer splendid opportunities for remodeling, to 
accord with the more comfortable mode of life of today 
Northport Harbor, once a ship-building center, second 
only to one or two New England ports, such as New 
Bedford 
