Added: 11/20/2005 |
Brookhaven NY The New England TreasureBrookhaven NY is a unique place in new york state, and almost everyone from kids to seniors can find a reason to visit brookhaven. Brookhaven NY is the largest township in the long island region of New York state, extending the full width of the island. The town of Brookhaven NY holds the deed to over twenty miles of coastline bordering the long island sound, over two hundred miles of coastline on the edge of the great south bay, plus thirty or miles of beach and coastline on the Atlantic ocean. In addition to all of this scenic coastline and beach, Brookhaven NY officially owns about seventy square miles of water! Brookhaven NY has been growing in size since the first land was purchased by pioneers from the local native Americans known as part of the Setalcott tribe way back in 1655.
Brookhaven NY was started by a single party of six pioneering colonists who were searching for a place to make their homes and to start a township which could provide lodging and a viable economy for others. The group of six were not acting out of a desire to start anew for religious reasons or to build a better society, but were officially and definitely involved in the founding of the town primarily for financial gain. In fact, they were hired and paid by businessmen who were prospecting for rich land in order to make a good living. These pioneers came primarily from nearby Massachusetts, where settlements were popping up all over the state during these early days of the nation's growth. The group of six founders had very little with them, save some tools and a few weapons with which they managed to purchase the land which was the beginning of Brookhaven NY.
Brookhaven NY quickly became a typical new England community, with a town government to rival any other in the region. Among the first orders of business, the townspeople built a meeting house and a home for a local minister. Although there was no minister residing in Brookhaven NY, the townspeople hoped that an excellent house would attract one to the region, and they were proved right eventually. When the town first began, each settler was allotted a lot on which to build their home and another parcel of land which could be either beach land or meadow land depending on what the settler chose.
For many years, the purchase of further land by any townsperson had to be approved and confirmed during a meeting of the entire town. It seems that the townspeople were engaged in a true democracy, wherein each settler had an equal voice in approving or denying the land purchases of any other settler. However, of course, during this era of america's growth things were anything but truly equal. The women of Brookhaven NY suffered without political representation. While their husbands and fathers held countless town meetings to decide and debate about the future of the region, the women of brookhaven ny worked their fingers to the bone to help build the town's population and community.
Brookhaven NY is a classic new England town, with a classic new England history, and the town of Brookhaven NY as it currently stands now is a testament to the complicated story of settlement and development in the united states of America.
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