The Beginning Of The Bayport Bubble

The land that is now Bayport, in the southeast corner of Islip Town, was part of Brookhaven Town between 1666 and 1697. That year, William Nicoll, the Islip Town founder, who had made his first land purchases from the Secatogue Indians four years earlier, added the future Bayport to his holdings. After the Revolution, William Nicoll IV, seeking money to pay debts, sold off what would be about two-thirds of southern Bayport to Jeremiah Terry and Gersham Hawkins. The Bayport Heritage Association recognizes Dec. 16, 1786, the date of the Terry deed, as the hamlet's founding date.