What's In A Name?: Napeague

Napeague, the sandy isthmus that connects Amagansett with Montauk, is a name with Native American origins, recorded, like other such words, by ear.

Everett T. Rattray in "The South Fork" writes that Napeague means "water land." In "East Hampton: A History and A Guide" by Jason Epstein and Elizabeth Barlow, it is said to mean "land overflowed by water." Both are fitting: Napeague is bordered by the Atlantic on the south and Napeague Bay and Harbor to the north. During the 1938 Hurricane, ocean met bay and Montauk became an island, just as it used to be, once upon a time.

Considering that the littoral drift carries sand from east to west on the south shore, Napeague probably grew in that direction. The lines of dunes mark the stages of accretion, suggests "East Hampton: A History."

Mr. Rattray describes it as "a region of sand land, a region of dunes and swales and sparse vegetation."

For a short time in the 1880s, a 700-foot iron pier extended from Napeague Beach into the Atlantic; nets were hung from it and fish were shipped from Napeague Harbor. Also long since vanished is a holding pond, dug out behind the beach banks at the west end of Napeague, where seiners kept striped bass.

"A passable motor road," in the estimation of The Star, was built around 1917, and "a good one" in 1927, followed at intervals by motels, restaurants, and residences. Mosquitoes, at least, have decreased.

Gone altogether are the billboards that once ran the length of Napeague. They were banned in 1960.

Napeague has not escaped the notice of Hollywood. Much of "The Sheik," starring Rudolph Valentino, was filmed there during the summer of 1922. Most recently, part of the DreamWorks thriller "Deep Impact" was set on the South Fork's sand land.