Early Settlement of Copiague
and the Surrounding Area

The Copiague area was originally occupied by the Massapequa Indians. Settlers from the northern part of Long Island (Huntington) would come to the south shore to harvest salt hay (a grass) in the fall and fish in the bay in the summer.

The Copiague area has gone through several name changes since the 1700s.

The water, farming, and some small factories were the main employers in the early days.

The south shore area was also used as a weekend and summer retreat by folks from New York City.

Subtopics on this page:

Early settlers
Name changes
Early Laws
Early industry
Summer retreats

top

Early Settlers

The northern part of Long Island (Huntington) was settled by English and Dutch in 1600s¹. They heard about the salt hay growing in the coastal marsh lands on the south shore. In the winter, the salt hay was used for cattle feed and bedding. In the spring and summer, it had use in the garden and protected ice in ice houses². The salt hay, also called sedge, only grew on the remote offshore marshlands, and was harvested in the fall. The hay was accessible to those who had boats, generally the baymen. The farmers therefore paid the baymen to row out to the marshlands to cut the hay and return the salt hay to shore³.

In 1657, the Huntington folk commenced buying land to the south of them from the Massapequa Indians. Four major purchasers were John Ketcham, Jonas Platt, James Chinchester and Timothy Conklin, Sr. In 1693, the salt meadow was bought from Chief Wyandanch, the Grand Sachem of all Long Island Indians. The settlers paid the Chief 12 coats, 20 pounds of powder, 20 Dutch hatchets, 20 knives, 10 shirts, and fine looking glass and other things⁴. By 1755, the people from the north had acquired most of what is now the Town of Babylon ⁵. On March 31, 1872, the Town of Babylon was created separating the south shore area from the northern Town of Huntington⁶.

top

Name Changes

The Copiague area has gone through several name changes. In the 1666 deed for the area is stated to be a “…passel of meddow… being in a neck commonly called by the Indians Coppiage…”. There are variations noted in 1693 as Copyag and in 1698 as Cuppuauge. Based on Massachusetts Indians’ language, the word “kuppi” means closed, and “kuppi-auke” is “a land shut in” by the meadow that surrounds it⁷.

On April 21, 1790, President George Washington called the area Huntington South while touring Long Island on his “Victory Tour” after the Battle of Brooklyn. He stopped at a local inn.

In the mid 1800s, the area was named Great Neck after the geographical necks of land on which it lies. Because of confusion with a town called Great Neck on the north shore of Long Island, the south shore community became East Amityville (no years given).

In 1803, a post office was established at Zebulon Ketcham’s house.

In 1826 a stage coach service was bringing two mails weekly to this area⁸.

The name Copiague was approved in 1895.

Copiague is an Indian word that means “sheltered harbor” or “sheltered place⁹.

top

Early Laws¹⁰

The salt hay could not be cut before it was fully-grown. It was considered mature around September 1. A man was found guilty of cutting the salt hay early and made to pay a 40-shilling fine for each boatload. He had two full boats.

Produce was for the local residents. A stranger was found harvesting oysters. His fine was 3 pounds. Digging shellfish to sell outside the town resulted in a 4-shilling fine.

On the Sabbath, the roads had to be clear from 10am to 4pm. The widow Smith was accused of disturbing the peace on the Sabbath by letting her cows escape and run up the road. It was her first offence and her penalty was 1 shilling.

top

Early Industry

In its early days, the Copiague area was settled by baymen, farmers, and tradesmen. A gristmill was built in 1760. It was on the north side of South Road (Merrick Road) owned and operated by Thomas Ireland^11,12. A sawmill was built in 1780, a cloth mill in 1810, and a straw paper manufacturer in 1849¹³.

From the 1800s to 1920, baymen worked planting and harvesting clams and oysters in the Great South Bay¹⁴.

In the years 1870 to 1918, many baymen and south shore residents made their living by duck hunting for money. Millenary shops bought wild feathers to decorate hats. The restaurants and markets bought the meat. The down was used for hat and jacket insulation ¹⁵.

In the late 1880s, many Marconiville Italians worked as laborers on the Long Island Railroad and as gardeners on large estates.

By 1917, work opportunities in Marconiville extended because of the opening of small factories.

From 1914-17 there were three clothing manufacturers in the Copiague area¹⁶.

Copiague printed its first Newspaper on July 13, 1956 called, “The Copiague Journal.” It closed after a year or so¹⁷.

top

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the area from Amityville to Babylon (Copiague is between the two) was a weekend retreat and summer recreation area for people from New York City. Copiague had neither a ferry nor large hotels but the neighboring towns of Amityville and Babylon did.

To the west of Copiague, the ferryboats from Amityville regularly made their way to the beach. Trips were made from the Amityville River to the Pavilions at High Hill on Zachs Bay, Hemlock Beach and Gilgo Beach. There were summer homes there ranging from very grand to very utilitarian¹⁸. Along the Amityville coast were large hotels. These were the Hathaway Inn, the Narragansett Inn, Hotel New Point, Hotel Alexandria, the Amity Inn (which hosted the New York-Amityville Bike race in 1899), and the Nassau Inn¹⁹. Boaters used the hotels as landmarks.

To the east of Copiague, the ferryboats from Babylon transported vacationers to lavish hotels along Fire Island. The Surf Hotel opened in 1858 and David Spurgess Sprague Sammis was the owner. The hotel was located near the Fire Island lighthouse. It was a three-story hotel with a beachfront of 600 feet and accommodations for 1500 guests. On May 8, 1892, Sammis transferred his Fire Island property to New York State, which bought the hotel as an emergency quarantine station for steamship passengers exposed to cholera. In 1908, the area became a state park²⁰. The area is now the Fire Island National Seashore.

top

Footnotes

1. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973. Page 9.

2. ibid. Page 9.

3. Solomon, Nancy. On the Bay. Friends for Long Island Heritage, Syosset, NY. 1992.

4. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973. Pages 9-10.

5. Lauder, William T., "A Brief History of Amityville, Long Island, N.Y. — 2nd edition". Amityville Historical Society, Amityville, NY. © 1973. Page 2.

6. ibid. Page 8.

7. Tooker, William Wallace. The Indian Place-Names on Long Island and Islands Adjacent. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY 1911. Page 57.

8. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973. pg 28

9. ibid. Page 28.

10. 278 Years in Copiague — A Pageant presented by the class of 1935

11. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973 pg 20-21

12. Dibbins, Purdy and Ruggles, editors. "A Backwards Glance", The Amityville Historical Society, Amityville, New York © 1980. pg 23

13. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973 pg 20-21

14. Solomon, Nancy. On the Bay. Friends for Long Island Heritage, Syosset, NY. 1992.

15. ibid.

16. LaGumina, Salvatore J., "From Steerage to Suburb: Long Island Italians". Center for Migration Studies, New York, 1988pg 43

17. Eide, Elizabeth. Copiague-Your Town and Mine. Board of Education , Copiague Public Schools, Copiague, NY @Elizabeth Eide 1973 pg 54

18. Lauder, William T., "A Brief History of Amityville, Long Island, N.Y. — 2nd edition". Amityville Historical Society, Amityville, NY. © 1973pg 13

19. Purdy Jr., Seth, Dibbins, Elodie. Amityville Remembered — A Pictorial History 1880-1920.

20. Lightfoot, Frederick S., Martin, Linda B., Weidman, Bette S. "Suffolk County, Long Island in Early Photographs 1867-1951". Dover Publications, New York. 1984. Page 114.