The Shinnecocks led these intrepid pioneers to a sheltered area near the shores of today’s Old Town Pond, just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean.  Here they built an encampment and named it “Olde Towne”.  It was the first English settlement in New York State.  In 1648, the growing colony moved their settlement to the area surrounding Lake Agawam, and former Olde Towne was turned into grazing lands.  Over the 230 years, the area remained primarily an agricultural and seafaring community.

The advent of the railroads and the beginning of the Gilded Age in the later 1800’s would soon hearken the Village’s role as a leading resort community.  In 1894, the Village of Southampton officially incorporated as a sovereign municipality to guide its transformation from an agricultural past to a future filled with new social, recreational, and resort institutions.  “Villagers” now had their own identity and traditions.