Quite naturally the first settlers in the area were farmers first and baymen second, both occupations being necessary for mere survival. Our area was initially attractive to the north shore settlers because of the abundance of salt hay on the meadows and marshes, particularly in the area south of what is now Merrick Road. The islands in the shallow bay, easily accessible by small boat, were also covered with salt hay. The crop led to the early subdivision of the shore lands and islands into small plots so everyone on the north shore got some of the valuable crop. Those who got here "furstus got the mostus," as the saying goes. Numbered among them were the Chichesters, Conklins, Oakleys, Irelands, Ketchams, Carmans and Purdys.

The early farms were family affairs sized by how much a man, a horse, along with his children and maybe a helper or two, could take care of. Early on, there were some slaves in the area. Some farms were only large gardens, just enough to provided the family’s needs. Others were five acres and up that permitted growing crops and poultry for sale locally, or "for market" in New York City. Usually the further north from the shore, the larger the acreage per farm. One of the largest was that of one Seth Platt Purdy, being some 88 acres in size. It was located on the four corners of Albany Avenue and Great Neck Road, and dates from about 1781. The source of the Amityville Creek was located upon it. The farm was lastly owned and operated a s a farm by Herman VonEssen until the 1940’s. Thereafter it became the site of a residential development. Other local farmers were the Ketchams, other Purdys, Kress’, Roper, Wiley, Rooney, Wells, Pearsalls, Smiths, Woods, Carmans, Powells, Wansers, Zahns, Haffs, Bennetts, Loudens, Irelands, Henry VonEssen, Robbins and more. On occasion Gypsys would pass through this area and would ask to stay on the Purdy farm. Sometimes they would work temporarily in the fields, but when they left they generally took more than they brought and were, therefore not overly welcome. Mr. Seth P. Purdy, Jr., Curator of the museum and a direct descendant of the original farmer, worked on the farm in the 1940’s and remembers it as a quiet and serene place even then.

The last local farm of any size to exist was the Kress farm on the south side of Merrick road on the west bank of Ketcham’s Creek. This is the site of the present condominium known as Snug Harbor. That farm and a few other so called "truck farms" actually were in operation up until World War II.

Another familiar feature of the landscape into the early 1900’s, which has systematically been obscured and eliminated, is the network of streams that wended their quiet way through the community. They have been filled in, piped, drained, and built upon such that a stranger would never know they had been here. There were at least four or five streams and tributaries that ran right through the village and thru the areas to the immediate east and west. The most visible example of this atrophying process is seen where Berner High School is now. The school and everything to the south of it is built upon what once was Carman’s Stream and Mill Pond. Other missing ponds are Dr. Luce’s Pond which was at the end of Mill Street, a little pond on the north side of Union Avenue upon which an apartment house now rests with the stream piped underneath, and Cedar Brook Pond at the northeast corner of Louden Avenue and Carman’s Road. Both Hartman’s, now Peterkin, and Ireland’s Mill Pond have been substantially reduced in size, all this within my memory.

Reprinted here, with permission, from Amityville History Revisited by William T. Lauder.