skip to main content

Local History

Hampton Bays welcome sign: 'Welcome to the hamlet of Hampton Bays. Settled in 1970 as a good ground.' Hampton Bays is located in Long Island's Suffolk County. It is situated on the South Shore, at the beginning of the South Fork. Settled in 1740 as "Good Ground", Hampton Bays was made up of 11 small hamlets. In 1922, the hamlets united to create the Hampton Bays community.

"Good Ground" used several small schoolhouses in the years prior to the construction of the Union Free School in 1908 such as the Red Creek Schoolhouse, the Good Ground School, and the Bay Avenue School. The Red Creek Schoolhouse was used until 1890 and is now listed as a historical complex by the Southampton Colonial Society. The Good Ground School was a small one-story building built approximately in 1842 or 1844, located east of the Fish Net Restaurant on Montauk Highway. The Bay Avenue School, called the Springville School, was located on Bay Avenue and was built about 1890. The Union Free School, discernable because of its tall columns, opened in 1908 and ended the use of the Good Ground and the Springville Schools. It served as the high school until 1971, when the Argonne Road site became the new high school. In 1968, the Union Free School was demolished and replaced with a one-story building.

For more information on the local history of Hampton Bays, please visit Hampton Bays Local History or refer to Helen M. Wetteran's book, The Good Ground Remembered . We hope you enjoy reading about the history of our wonderful community.