What's in a Name? Merchants Path

The name Merchants Path suggests quite well its significance in East Hampton's history - it was a route of trade in the early 18th century, when goods were brought to and from Southampton and the region's first port, at Northwest Harbor.

Today, the East Hampton portion of Merchants Path begins at the town line and stops at Route 114, just across from Swamp Road in Northwest. In its heyday, however, the path continued along Swamp Road and past Northwest Landing to what is now the Grace Estate.

William D. Halsey, in "Sketches From Local History," writes that the route was opened "by the merchants of the day, Edward Howell and John Wick, both being contemporary merchants of this locality. All of their merchandise was landed at North West, and had to be carted from there, for the most part with teams of oxen."

A map of East Hampton commemorating the nation's bicentennial notes that Merchants Path was first cut by "A merchant, by the name of Howell . . . in 1712."

Typical goods at that time would have included exports such as firewood, whale oil and bone, hides, and tallow, and such imports as timber, rum, and molasses. In those days a merchant, in the strictest sense, meant a shipowner - the person who owned the vessels that carried goods from port to port. At least two men associated with East Hampton's whaling companies fit the description: Abraham Schellinger, who owned the sloop Endeavor, and Samuel (Fishhooks) Mulford, owner of the Adventure.

Many years later, when business was flourishing and the deep drafts of larger vessels could not enter the relatively shallow waters of Northwest, the port at Sag Harbor was established.

Merchants Path is still owned by the East Hampton Town Trustees. To date, it remains a dirt road.