Founded in 1646, East Marion was first known as Oysterpond Upper Neck (Orient was Oysterpond Lower Neck). Later, the hamlet was called Rocky Point, home for over 50 years to the headquarters of an active life saving station which saved many men, women and children, when ships were wrecked along the Long Island Sound shore.old east marion shoreline The United States Coast Guard ran the station during World War II. It is said that the present name is in honor of General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox” of the American Revolution. In the old days, residents of East Marion were called “shad eyes” because so many of them were fisherman. (Orient residents were known a “turnip-pullers” since they tended to be farmers.) Another interesting fact that puts East Marion on the map is that it has the only Memorial Post Office in the United States. It opened in 1949 as a working memorial to the veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
