State to review Babylon development after Montaukett protests
New York State will conduct a "further review" of a recently begun condominium project in North Amityville after protests by members of the Montaukett Indian Nation, who say it may contain native remains, the state and Babylon town said.
On Thursday, the town said the state had contacted it and the developer about a "possible further review of the site," and the developer has "stopped work."
The town, said spokesman Dan Schaefer, had conducted its own review and followed proper procedures in giving its approval, but "if the state decides they want to take another look at it that's their call."
Dan Keefe, a spokesman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said the agency has "recommended a phase 1 archaeological survey."
"Upon completion of the initial survey, the agency may request further study or make additional recommendations," he said.
Bunt Properties, which is developing condos at the site, didn't immediately comment. Schaefer said the developer had stopped work as of Thursday after recently breaking ground.
Sandi Brewster-Walker, an independent historian and executive director of the Montaukett Indian Nation, has led the effort to protect the site and any artifacts and remains that may be there, saying the tribe and its supporters have urged the town and the state to at least allow for an archaeologist to be on site during digging to check for possible remains.
More fundamentally, Brewster-Walker is urging the town to create a historic district in and around the site, which is in a cluster of properties that had for centuries been home to Montaukett families. She also wants Babylon to develop a historic grave protection or preservation policy within a historic district.
Schaefer said the town believes Brewster-Walker’s assertion of possible artifacts "continue to be unfounded after [a previous] review and clearance" from the state parks office.
Nevertheless, Schaefer said in an email, "while we don’t have the ability to dedicate a staff member to be on the premises full time, we will be conducting weekly checks at the site." He also said the developer has "agreed to notify the town should they discover anything while working."
That’s not enough for Brewster-Walker, who has written articles in the Babylon Beacon discussing the likelihood that the natives who lived at the site and maintained a fruit orchard there may have buried their dead on the property, a common practice at the time.
Brewster-Walker, in an email, said the site was part of a cluster of homes of Montauketts Indians, with names such as Steele, Squires, Hunter, Payne, Miller, Jackson, Bunn, Devine, Fowler and Brewster. She said evidence of Montauketts widely living in the area is available in census data, town maps and other documents.
"This cluster of Montauketts people existed before Dutch traders and English settlers claimed to have ‘discovered’ the area," she wrote.
The Montauketts’ effort comes as the Shinnecock Indian Nation this week saw one of its most sacred burial grounds at Sugar Loaf Hill nears its Southampton reservation purchased and preserved by the Peconic Land Trust and the Town of Southampton. The effort marked a milestone after tribal members were barred from the property by an illegal land sale in 1859. Within a year, an entity controlled by the tribe is expected to own it.
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
