Footnotes to Long Island History
Mills of Yaphank,
Vicinity
December 6, 1956
Thomas R. Bayles
Yaphank is
located in the southeastern part of what was once known as the “Parish
of Middle Town” (Middle Island), and was locally known as Millville.
The name Yaphank is taken from an old Indian name Yamphank, meaning the
bank of a river, which was given to a small stream at Brookhaven that
flows into the Connecticut or Carman’s River.
The
Connecticut River, which flows through Yaphank, is from an Indian name
meaning “the long river,” and this river is about the longest on Long
Island. Years ago it rose in Pfeiffer’s pond at Middle Island and ran
through a culvert under Middle Country Road or Route 25, as it is now
known. Fish used to swim through this culvert from Pfeiffer’s pond on
their way downstream to Yaphank years ago. Now it is dried up for a
mile or so south or near Prosser’s park. From Szuster’s farm south it
is navigable for a row boat.
There were
two important mills in Yaphank in years gone by. The one known as
Swezey’s Mills or Upper Mills was the first to be used. This mill was
built under a grant from the town trustees to Capt. Robert Robertson in
1739. He paid six shillings for this right to build a mill there. In
1762 the town trustees granted the right to John Homan to build a saw
mill in lower Yaphank. He paid 40 shillings for this right. He was
also granted the right to build a “fuling mill” there. In 1771 he was
granted the right to build a grist mill there also, and his grant read
as follows: “That he said Daniel Homan shall complete a mill for
grinding within two years from this date, and shall keep an approved
miller. Also he shall take, as toll for grinding, three quarts of each
bushel of grain that may be ground.”
This miss was
known in more recent years as Gerard’s Mill. It burned down during
World War I. Here it was that the farmers who lived for miles around
came with their grain to be ground into flour and meal of different
kinds, and here also they brought the logs from their forests to be
sawed into lumber which they used in building their houses. “Going to
mill” was a favorite expression in the old days, and it was an
interesting trip for the children to go with their father with a load of
grain to be ground.
The old
fuling mill, which stood on the river about a mile north of the Upper
Mill pond, was in operation in 1792, and in that year the town trustees
granted, to Ebenezer Homan, the right to the stream north of his “fuling
mill” for the sum of three pounds. This mill was used for several years
in the making of cloth of some kind. In an old diary of Minerva
Hutchinson, of Middle Island, the following entries appear:
“July 26,
1808; At night our rolls were brought home from the carding mill down
the river. I began to spin them. Very good rolls.”
“August 14th;
We got up very early in the morning. I got to spinning about sunrise,
having had breakfast by candlelight. Carded mixed wool for stocking
yarn.”
In 1799 a
road was laid out from the eat end of Granny Road across the “old fuling
mill dam” to the Middle Island-Yaphank Road. This was closed in 1823.
A fourth mill site was about half a mile below the lower mill (Gerard’s
Mill) and a saw mill was built there by Daniel Homan, but it was
abandoned before long.
In 1851,
funds were raised and a chapel built, which is the Presbyterian Church.
Services were held there every other Sunday afternoon. Before this the
people in Yaphank attended the Presbyterian Church in Middle Island.
St. Andrews
Episcopal Church was built in 1854 on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. James
H. Weeks.