Mission and Location
To comprehensively identify enslaved persons and free blacks from the 1600s to the mid-19th century, locate and preserve burial grounds, habitations, and work sites on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., and to create a template for other communities.
East Hampton, N.Y., Site Description:
Main Street Historic District, Village of East Hampton, N.Y., and surroundings, including Gardiner's Island, Town of East Hampton, N.Y.
Population 21,457 (town), 1,083 (village)
European settlement c.1638 (Gardiner's Island) 1648, East Hampton "Plantation"
Site is primarily residential, with burial grounds and limited agriculture.
Site Significance:
Properties and sites in the five East End towns are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the New York State list, and local designations. East Hampton played a significant economic and theocratic role in the colonial period, American Revolution, and establishment of the United States of America. It and nearby communities, such as Southampton, Southold, and Shelter Island, helped form the basis of Long Island and southern New England trade, and were directly tied to the Caribbean sugar plantation system and Atlantic Slavery.