The community derives its name from Peconic Bay, which in turn derives its name from a Native American word meaning "nut trees". The area was originally called "Hermitage", and the name "Peconic" was adopted later. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was home to the Peconic School, an artist colony initially led by painters Benjamin Rutherfurd Fitz, Edward August Bell, Henry Prellwitz and Edith Mitchill Prellwitz. Albert Einstein was staying in Peconic in 1939 when he signed the famous Einstein–Szilárd letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Goldsmith's Inlet was the site of a tidal mill that was improved with a windmill in 1870.
Passages that mention Peconic, cut from the printed page as they were published.
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 25Read the page →
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ing at a certain pepperidge tree near Wading River, standing at a distance of 432.35 chains north from Peconic River and about a mile from the sound, and running in a southeasterly direction, crossing Peconic River at the site of the present village of Riverhead, and continuing to Red Creek in the town of Southampton, a distance of fifteen miles from Wading River; and from Red Creek (called by the Indians Toyonnges) returning in a
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...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 16Read the page →
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" The highway from Peconic River to Southold to be in ye usual road from ye river to Mattatuck already laid out, four poles wide at ye least, ye trees generally marked on ye south side of ye way; and at Mattatuck ye highway to be on ye north side of ye pond, and soe directly leading to ye old road to ye town of Southold, and soe through the street eastward to end in the lane on ye west side of Stephen Bayley his house, and soe eastward
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Peconic, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1902
2015
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2015