What’s in a name? When trying to promote development of an area, its name is important, especially if the name is not appealing. Think Mosquito Cove (now Glen Cove) or Drowned Meadow (now Port Jefferson). In Huntington, what had been known for over a century as Gallows Hill is now Fort Hill.
The story begins during the American Revolution when Huntington was occupied by the British. To guard their position in Huntington, the British built a fort at the eastern approach to the Town Common. The fort stood at the intersection of today’s East Main Street and Maple Hill Road, at the point where East Main Street descends to the Park Avenue valley. Traces of the fort could still be seen as late as a century after the war but are now lost.
At the end of the war, the area near the fort was the site of a hanging. Over the years, the identities of the men hanged and even which side they were on became confused. In one telling, the two men were British soldiers who rode to their execution on their coffins. The other version claims the men were American spies.
In 1975, Huntington’s Bicentennial Committee went with the American spies version of the story and erected a historic marker on Huntington Bay Road. The marker text: “Near this spot, two American Martyrs were hanged by the British during the Revolution.” Why that particular spot was chosen to place the marker is not known.
Recent research by David M. Griffin, who has written two books about the American Revolution on Long Island,* confirms that the Bicentennial Committee chose the wrong version. The two condemned men were Isaac Algar and Nathaniel Parker, who fought for the British. In August 1783, they were convicted of robbing and beating Platt Carll, who operated an inn on the north side of Jericho Turnpike between Manor and Warner Roads. The convicted men were hanged on September 10, 1783 (the executioner was Provost Marshal William Cunningham, who was also present at Nathan Hale’s hanging seven years earlier). Two and a half months later, the British evacuated from New York City.
For generations, the hill east of Park Avenue and north of East Main Street was known as Gallows Hill. It was so labeled on the 1837 Coastal Survey map. Nineteenth century deeds described Maple Hill Road as the road to Gallows Hill. The area was sparsely settled, so no one much minded the name. But by the turn of the twentieth century, when more and more houses were built, it was decided a new name should be found. Reference to the fort, even though it was a British fort, was preferable to a reference to the site of an execution. Hence Gallows Hill became Fort Hill.
To correct the record on September 23, 2024, a new historical marker was placed at the intersection of Maple Hill and Fort Hill Roads.
* Lost British Forts of Long Island (The History Press 2017) and Chronicles of the British Occupation of Long Island (The History Press 2023)
Huntington History 