4 of Bridgehampton’s places are on the National Register
Most of Bridgehampton was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1873 on and old-book passages.
Shortly after the founding of Southampton in 1640, settlers began to move east to the area known by the Shinnecock Indians as Sagaponack and Mecox. At the head of Sagg Pond, the settlers established a community called Bullhead, later renamed Bridgehampton—after the bridge built across the pond. Sagg Bridge was built in 1686 by Ezekiel Sandford. The bridge was the link between Mecox and Sagaponack and gave this locality its name of Bridgehampton. The notorious criminal and memoirist Stephen Burroughs lived in the community during the 18th century and helped found the town's first library in 1793; the volumes he purchased could be found in the Bridgehampton Public Library as late as 2002.
Passages that mention Bridgehampton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 31Read the page →
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the pond. Here the first church was built, probably about the time that the bridge was finished. The second church was built in 1737, on the north side of the road leading from Bridgehampton village to Sagg. The bridge fell out of repair and ceased to be used as a highway, and in 1765 the road bought of Isaac Wilman was sold by the trustees to John Sandford, and the places that had known them knew them no more. In 1876 Silas
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...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 10Read the page →
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The "South division," embracing the land north of Bridgehampton street, was laid out in 1712. The North Side division, being land at Noyack and vicinity, was laid out the same year. The 30-acre division at Mecox was made in 1677. The Great North and Great South divisions were the large extent of woodland lying between the East Hampton line and the Shinecock Hills, laid out in 1738. The Little South division con-
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Bridgehampton, 1744 to 1976
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1873
1873
1873
c. 1903