Indian Fort-Fort Hill Cemetery | East Hampton Town, NY
Fort Hill Cemetery, with its sweeping views of land and water, was officially dedicated 31 years ago on June 23. East Hampton Town had purchased the 30-acre property in the 1980s to preserve a sacred Montaukett burial ground and to create a cemetery for latter-day Montauk residents.
The “fort” in Fort Hill is said to have come from a Montaukett Indian fort – really, a stockade enclosure to protect women and children — that stood on the hill in the 17th century. Nearby Massacre Valley is named for an attack in 1653 by the Narragansetts, who killed a slew of Montauk warriors and kidnapped the daughter of Wyandanch on her wedding day after murdering her bridegroom.
(Source: Throwback Thursday – Sacred Territory – Montauk Library)
