Culloden Point
Encyclopedia
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
north of Montauk, New York
Montauk, New York
Montauk [ˈmɒntɒk] is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 3,851 as of 2000...
that marks the east side entrance to Fort Pond Bay
Fort Pond Bay
Fort Pond Bay is a bay off Long Island Sound at Montauk, New York that was site of the first port on the end of Long Island. The bay has a long naval and civilian history.-New-York Province and the American Revolution:...
from Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
.
HMS Culloden
The British ship HMS CullodenHMS Culloden (1776)
HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard, England, and launched on 18 May 1776...
ran aground here in 1781 while pursuing a French frigate. To keep it from falling into enemy hands, the British threw the cannons overboard and burned the ship.
The wreck was discovered in the 1970s when portions of it washed ashore (reports indicate that some of the washed-up debris had been used for beach campfires). One of the cannons is on display at the East Hampton Marine Museum in Amagansett, New York
Amagansett, New York
Amagansett is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 1,067. Amagansett hamlet was founded in 1680.The...
, which has an extensive display of Culloden artifacts.
Other cannons are still on the bottom close to shore and about 20 to 25 feet below the surface. The wreck is protected on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and now is the first underwater park on Long Island, New York. The park is accessible on a single-lane gravel road at the west end of Soundview Drive. Divers use a large rock with pebbles on top of it to the north of the bluff stairs as the landmark for reaching the wreck. They follow a heading of 333 degrees. It is about 150 feet off shore. The debris field is marked by buoys.
Prior to the discovery of the wreck in the 1970s, the spit was called Will's Point, possibly named after Will Indian, a herder mentioned in early East Hampton Town records.
Amistad
In 1839 the Amistad anchored at Culloden Point after the surviving crew tried to convince their revolting slave captors that they had returned to Africa. They went for provisions in the village of Montauk. The ship was seized here by the USS Washington (1837)USS Washington (1837)
The sixth USS Washington was a revenue cutter in the United States Navy. She discovered Amistad after the slaves onboard had seized control of that schooner in an 1839 mutiny. The sixth USS Washington was a revenue cutter in the United States Navy. She discovered Amistad after the slaves onboard...
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Leisurama
In the early 1960s, about 200 LeisuramaLeisurama
Leisurama is a development of vacation homes in Montauk, New York, that was constructed between 1963 and 1965 following the developer's success with a model home at the 1959 American Exhibition in Moscow...
prefabricated homes were built at the point after being sold from a display on the ninth floor of the Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
in New York City.