"Friday, September 20, 1839 - Went out to the bay yesterday with my father... On the way out we passed many Indian shell heaps bleached as white as snow, which they much resembled at a distance. Some of them on the banks of the creek extend from fifteen to thirty feet upon the bank and under the water, in many instances entirely across the creek... But the most extensive shell deposits are at Milburn on Treadwell's or Hick's Neck Creek, down which we sailed today. There are several on each side of the creek. One large ridge on the upland west of the creek is from three to ten feet high and is said to be composed entirely of shell deposits. This ridge is a series of shell mounds, the most extensive probably in this country, far excelling those of St John's River, Florida. It is not unlikely, said Benjamin F. Thompson, in his History of Long Island, that all the largest shell heaps on Long Island are the remains of wampum manufactories... The remains at Hick's Neck Creek are also of great antiquity, judging from the trees now growing upon their surface. The Indians who had become extinct only within the memory of persons still living ascribe these mounds to a former race. This ridge or series of mounds is at Bedell's Landing on the west side of Hick's Neck (Milburn) Creek at a point where the creek turns easterly.  There is another on the east side of the creek about two hundred yards distant on a piece of meadow now belonging to Jacobus Golden, where the creek suddenly turns southward, and still another one at Miller's Landing a few hundred yards southwest of the latter, where the creek turns southeasterly, and debouches into the bay.  All of these are interesting and important remains. Sinkers, spear heads, and other implements have been found in all of them... The wagon road from Bedell's to Lott's Landing, a distance of about eight hundred feet, is on top of a ridge and is composed almost entirely of shells and black earth, the results of decomposed animal matter."

"Personal reminiscences of men and things on Long Island" by Daniel M. Tredwell, published Brooklyn 1912-1917
 

09/04/2006