History
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. Early English settlers farmed, fished, and hunted whales.
The first English settlement was named Setauket after the native American tribe. In 1666, Governor Richard Nicolls granted a Patent for the town which confirmed title to the lands purchased, and permitted additional purchases. Governor Thomas Dongan issued a Patent in 1686 which granted powers to the town and established a representative form of government.
The letter "D" on the official seal, associated with the original Dongan patent officially establishing Brookhaven, is a cattle branding letter assigned to Brookhaven in the mid-17th century, along with whaling harpoons.
Read more about this topic: Brookhaven, New York
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)