Letters

I was very disappointed to learn that the Southampton History Museum is evicting the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery from Conscience Point in order to highlight the English settlers who landed here in 1640 [“Eviction Notice Sparks a Split Between Venerable Museum and Shellfish Group,” 27east.com, November 20].

I find it particularly shocking to totally ignore the fact that the history of Conscience Point and North Sea Harbor goes back significantly before 1640. Native people lived here and enjoyed the natural environment of the harbor for thousands of years prior to this date. They fished, harvested shellfish and hunted here, and were known to have a summer encampment nearby. They traded with Europeans who came from north of what is now Long Island Sound. North Sea Harbor was an area full of activity pre-1640. Why is this earlier history not also celebrated?

The museum has chosen to highlight the date when English settlers first arrived. This is an insult to the people who lived here at that time.

For several years after the settlers landed, the North Sea Harbor and Conscience Point continued as an important port, where boats brought new settlers, as well as news and supplies to the colonists. Over the years, some settlers established residences in the area, helping enable a thriving port community. It remained the most important port in the area for many years until replaced by Sag Harbor.

As noted by Mary Cummings in her article “North Sea — The First Step”: “‘From 1683 to 1775, North Sea Harbor was full of pinks, snows and schooners,’ observed one local historian, writing on the occasion of Southampton’s 325th anniversary, who noted that the vessels carried whale oil to Boston and London, cordwood to New York, and traded in rum and horses in Barbados.”

The Conscience Point area has continued since then to be used for commercial and recreational fishing, harvesting shellfish, recreational boating and boat building, and it represents many of the cultural traditions of both the native people and the settlers who followed.

For the last 12 years, the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery has worked diligently to preserve the harbor’s marine environment and provide educational opportunities to encourage better stewardship of the local environment. Why is this more recent history also not celebrated? And why is not an ongoing constructive use of the area also not encouraged?

The museum has a static historical base in the Rogers Mansion, which represents a point in time. But Conscience Point is a local natural resource with a history that extends for thousands of years before the arrival of the settlers, and for almost 400 years afterward. Doesn’t that entire time deserve to be celebrated, and stewardship for its future is encouraged rather than evicted?

Mark Matthews

Southampton

Matthews is president of Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery — Ed.