This area was not called Hampton Bays until 1922, previously eleven small hamlets, each containing no more than a dozen homes. Good Ground was the main hamlet in the area occupying roughly what is now Main Street, Hampton Bays. Other surrounding hamlets were Ponquogue, Squiretown, East Tiana, Canoe Place, Southport, Springville, Red Creek, West Tiana, Newtown, and Rampasture. Most of these hamlets were settled by one or two families and had their own school house.
In 1922, as tourism from
New York City increased in the surrounding villages such as Westhampton, Southampton and East Hampton, these hamlets, by now generally called Good Ground, consolidated under the name of Hampton Bays in order to reep some of the benefits in being part of the exclusive “Hamptons” tourist trade. In 1750, Jeremiah Culver built an inn and tavern at Canoe Place. Until 1773, the Canoe Place Inn was the only refuge for travelers between Riverhead and Southampton Village.
