Aquebogue

Variant name of place

Aukuppog

Geographic position

40.9356° N, 72.6206° W

Sources

Bright, William. Native American Placenames of the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Print; Craven, Charles. A History of Mattituck, Long Island, NY. Wines, Richard. Mattituck, 1906. Print; "History and Culture." Shinnecock Indian Nation, 2015. Web. http://www.shinnecocknation.org/history; Wines, Richard. "Main Road Historic Survey." Riverhead Local 10 May 2013. Web. http://www.riverheadlocal.com/2013/05/10/main-road-historic-resource-survey/; Geo coordinates at https://www.google.com/#q=geographic+coordinates+of+aquebogue+ny.

General note

Aquebogue is a hamlet in Riverhead, NY, which is the seat of Suffolk County on Long Island. The hamlet, whose name is Algonquian for “end of water place” and has been spelled 23 different ways in town records, sits at the mouth of the Peconic River. Originally, the Algonquian-speaking Shinnecocks occupied the area. By the 1640s, however, English settlement on Long Island had spread to Aquebogue, and in 1661, the settlers compelled the Shinnecocks to sign an agreement to give their acquisition of Shinnecock land legal pretenses. By 1711, the entire area was allotted into 250-acre plots. At this time, Aquebogue was officially considered a part of Southold, a town on the northeastern tip of Long Island. In 1731, settlers constructed the Aquebogue Meeting House as a local church, and in the 1750s, the Meeting House split, as dissenters left to found what they called a "Strict Congregational Church." It is likely Occom visited Aquebogue during his travels in Long Island, especially given his acquaintance with Reverend Benjamin Goldsmith, the popular Presbyterian minister who presided over the Aquebogue church for 46 years. English troops occupied Aquebogue for the entire Revolutionary War after Washington’s defeat in the Battle of Long Island, and many residents signed loyalty oaths to their occupiers. In 1792, as Long Island fell under the jurisdiction of the State of New York, Southold, which encompassed Aquebogue, was divided into separate towns, including Riverhead, NY. Since then, Aquebogue has been a part of Riverhead.