Shinnecock and the Hamptons

Scotsman.com Sport - Golf - How Scots gave golf to America: "Next there was Willie Dunn. His first act was to set about transforming nearly 4,000 acres along Great Peconic Bay in New York State into America's first sophisticated golf course. With the help of 150 Indians from a nearby plantation, Dunn created a 12-hole wonder - the original Shinnecock Hills. When he'd finished he immediately sent for his two nephews, Seymour and John, and that was the way it worked, relation funding relation and friend funding friend on the expensive passage across the sea." (1890's ?) Yesterday I heard first on WSHU (Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT) that there was some new land claims by the Shinnecock of Long Island, who hold a Pow-Wow every Labor Day weekend. Then visiting my mother, read about it also in the newspaper "Newsday" though the article I thought a little one-sided sniping. I recall there has never been a bad incident recorded with the natives on Long Island in the history of the place, (i.e., from west to east: the Matinecock, Unkechaug, Shinnecock, Montauk, and perhaps the last of the Weckqueskecks in Nissequogue, [between Matinecock and Unkechaug] the first four still have some members and chiefs, the Matinecock chief, "Little Fox") with some others, i.e. Tobaccolot on the southshore, east of Patchogue, etc. Apparently the Shinnecock might hold up the sale of Southampton College (in dire straights) to Stony Brook University. They have some claim to its land and much of Southampton, NY, the "reservation" is on the south side of the Montauk Highway across from the college almost. One archaeology technician I worked with, once a DJ at Southampton College, worked summers in landscaping with the heritable (?) chief of the Shinnecock he told me. He provided background information to me about the Cold Spring, NY problems, a friend of his with the "Clearwater" organization provided him with all the background info they had gathered at public meetings, etc. Still 20 years later and nothing of PCB cleanup has been started in Fort Edward, NY, (where he also worked in archaeology) but Cold Spring, NY (cadmium and nickel) was cleaned up very rapidly. Well actually, done twice, the second time went, "dee dee mao".