The Connecticut River (or Carman's River as
it is now called) is about the longest river
on the Island. It rises in Middle Island and
flows down through Yaphank, South Haven, and
empties into the bay at Brookhaven.
Connecticut River is an Indian name meaning
"the long river."
Two mills operated on this river in Yaphank
in the years gone by. One was called
Swezey's Mill or the Upper Mill, and was
located in the upper part of Yaphank. This
mill was built under a grant from the
Brookhaven Town Trustees in 1739 to Capt.
Robert Robertson.
Yaphank is an Indian name meaning the bank
of a river. In 1762 the town trustees
granted the right to John Homan to build a
saw mill in lower Yaphank for which he paid
40 shillings. He was also given the right to
build a grist mill there also. His fee for
grinding grain was three quarts of grain of
each bushel ground. This mill was known in
more recent years as Gerard's Mill, and was
burned down during World War I.
An old "fuling mill" stood on the river
between Yaphank and Middle Island in 1792
under a grant from the town trustees. An old
diary of Minerva Hutchinson of Middle Island
carries the following entries.
"July 26, 1808; At night our rolls were
brought home from the carding mill down the
river. Very good rolls."
"August 14, 1808; 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."
The old grist and saw mill which stood at
South Haven on the river just north of the "goin'
over" on the Montauk Highway where the road
bridge now stands, was built and in
operation in 1745. This old mill still
stood, though long unused, until the Sunrise
Highway was extended and the mill torn down
about three years ago. The old mill stones
between which the corn and grain of the
farmers for miles around was ground were
there as was the rusted remains of the old
saw mill which sawed out the lumber for the
old Presbyterian Church that stood just
across the road, which was moved to a new
location in Brookhaven last Winter. Water
still runs under the Sunrise Highway where
the old mill stood but nothing remains to
mark the spot of this historic old mill that
served the farmers of this area so many
years ago.
ton and Brooklyn. Mr.
Carman's tavern, besides serving travelers
food and lodging and "Spirituous liquors,"
also enjoyed a certain prestige as a place
to hold political meetings and elections.
Here it was that some of the predominant
people of the day lodged, and here the
townspeople gathered to discuss the latest
news brought in from the outside world.
Letters and packages for people living in
nearby settlements were left here, before
post offices were established. The first post
office established in Brookhaven Town was at
Middle Island in 1796, according to the post
office records in the National Archives in
Washington.
According to Skinner's New York State
Register for 1830, mails were dispatched
from New York for Coram, Middle Island and
Suffolk Court House, (Riverhead) on Monday
and Friday. On the north side the mails left
New York for Huntington, Stony Brook,
Setauket, Drowned Meadow, (Port Jefferson)
and Wading River, and points east on Sunday
and Wednesday.
Sam Carman also conducted a store in
connection with his tavern at South Haven,
and this with the mill and meeting house
across the road was the center of life for
the settlements in this part of Brookhaven
Town.
A great variety of articles were sold in
his store, as it supplied most of the wants
of all the people living in that area. An
old account book for 1789 mentions,
thimbles, needles, thread, powder, snuff,
shot, trousers, coats, shoes, paper,
tobacco, molasses, ( very popular, as it was
used in making rum) tea, coffee, spices,
salt, whips, harness and the general run of
merchandise sold in a country store of those
days.