A Brief History of North
Sea Beach Colony
In North Sea Beach Colony, everyone knows “the rock.”
Ever since anyone can remember, Colony swimmers have measured
distance by it, swum around it, or climbed up on it, risking
scrapes from its copious barnacles. We probably have the Glacial
Age that formed Long Island to thank for “the rock.”
“The rock” could well have been a familiar fixture to the
Shinnecock Indians who, centuries ago, made the North Sea area
their summer encampment. An early map shows two Shinnecock
villages on the site of the Colony. One village was situated on
the West side of North Sea Road; the other approximately where
East and Bay Streets meet today. At that time North Sea Road was
an Indian trail leading South from these villages.
The first White settlers to land on Eastern Long Island were
from Lynn in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and were of English
origin. In 1640, they made landfall at North Sea — tradition
says, at Conscience Point. The settlers did not stay in North
Sea but moved southward and made permanent settlements at what
is now Southampton Village.
The Natives at that time called the Atlantic Ocean the “South
Sea” and Peconic Bay the “North Sea,” which is how this area got
its name.
There was no major new settlement at North Sea until 1650 when
the Southampton proprietors awarded a large tract of land (324
acres), including North Sea Beach and Cow Neck, to John Ogden.
Ogden, known as the founder of North Sea, or as it was
occasionally called, Feversham, divided his property among
several other people who settled the North Sea area in the 1650s
and 1660s.
In the early years, the North Sea population grew very slowly.
The Colony was then mostly farmland and woods. The major crops
were flax, oats, and some corn. Also, for a time, North Sea
Harbor was the working port of Southampton, and in the 1670s the
Harbor was used to ship whale oil (presumably from the Sag
Harbor whalers) to England.
The 18th and 19th centuries brought little change to the North
Sea Beach area and it continued to be used as farmland.
The first signs of further interest in the area came just before
World War I. By this time, the property north of Salm’s main
gate on North Sea Road was owned by George Howell, while land to
the South was owned by the Howard family.
Shortly before World War I, George Howell began to break his
property into lots and sell them as a business investment. The
most desirable lots, along the water from Cow Neck to Homes
Hill, sold first.
Most of the early owners in North Sea Beach Colony were
Southampton residents interested in a day or weekend retreat.
Consequently most of the early dwellings were of simple
construction, not designed for year-round or even extended use.
Because they were small, it was often thought just as easy to
move them from other locations as to build them on the sites.
In the early days, North Sea Road was unpaved, and most of the
houses in the Colony were one or two rooms with outhouses. There
was no center or back road; Bay Street was much shorter than it
is today. Ice and vegetables were delivered in rickety trucks.
In the 1920s, Colonel H. H. Rogers began buying up properties in
and around the Colony. These were the years of the Colony’s
first real growth as a resort area. At the time Colonel Rogers
was one of the founders of Standard Oil — and probably
Southampton’s wealthiest resident. He bought George Howell’s
property and also bought considerable land in the Colony itself.
It was during this period that North Sea Beach Colony
experienced its greatest period of growth. Several waterfront
owners built bathhouses or had docks installed. The path to the
Colony beach dates from this period.
The construction of the Pavilion at the North Sea Bathing Beach
(located at the end of North Sea Road) in the early 1920s drew
even more attention to the Colony. The Pavilion featured a bar
and bathhouses for swimmers. A long pier extended out from the
beach to a large float. By about 1940, however, the popularity
of the Pavilion had run its course. It was torn down and pieces
of it were moved and became Colony houses.
During the 1920s or 1930s a ski slide was erected atop the dune
at Homes Hill. Skiers slid down the smooth chute and onto the
slope of the dune. The 1938 hurricane destroyed the jump.
Colony residents formed The North Sea Beach Colony Association
in October 1947. Membership dues that first year were two
dollars; there was an initiation fee of five dollars.
Over the years, the goals of the
Association have remained essentially the same: to maintain the roads, the
grounds, beach areas, and other parts of the Colony enjoyed in common in
reasonably good repair, and to pursue such other aims as the membership may
deem appropriate. The Association adopted its first by-laws in 1951, and
incorporated in 1954.
In addition to maintaining common areas, the Association has
also been famous for numerous social events throughout its
history, including clambakes, covered-dish suppers with sing-alongs,
organized tennis tournaments, sailboat races and, more recently,
Fourth of July parades and celebrations.
Today the Colony continues its rich heritage, with many third-
and fourth-generation families still residing here, either as
summer or year-round residents. |
