The following notes will show
how the common pastures of Brookhaven town were managed in the early
days.
A town meeting held on august 22, 1671, voted that the
"old fild
and the little neck shall be fred of cattle and hogs six weeks after miklmes next and all fenses cept up as it is in somer
and so to continue from yere to yere untell the towne se cause to breke this order."
On June 10,1672,
the settlers of the high street employed Richard Waring and Samuel
Akerly to take their cows from home every morning,
drive them to the common pasture look after them through the day and
return them at night; their patrons being the people who lived
between Goodman Jenner's and Robert Akerly's hollow. For this the cow
ceepers were to be paid two shillings six pence a day, and a pound of
butter for every cow. Payment was to be made in corn, wheat and peas.
The common land about the Old Man's (Mt. Sinai) was set apart as a
pasture, and a decree of August 6,1689, pronounced it a pasture in
common forever.
On
May 5,1690, a Town meeting voted to enforce the
act of assembly passed in 1683, forbidding hogs to range the woods.
This regulation must have been disregarded a great deal, as we see
frequent mention of orders to the same effect, prescribing fines for
violations. As late as 1800, the practice of letting hogs run at large
was such a nuisance that a Town meeting in that year forbade hogs
running at large without yokes and rings and ear marks. The trustees
confirmed the action and added a fine of 25 cents.
The following old
record is interesting as a curiosity. "Wheras swine are unruly
creatures & not easily turned by fenceing, it is further Ordered
that all Swine from halfe a yeare old and upward shall not run in the
commons near any inclosiers with out yokes of a foot or nine inches
above the neck, and a cross bar of two foot under the throat and all
swine under halfe a yeare old shall be kept with in their owners inclosiers and not to run at random in the commons."
In
May,1696, the
Town trustees fearing that the commons would be overstocked with
cattle, ordered that no man should turn upon the commons more than 15
cattle, five horses and 20 sheep upon one right of commonage. On the
same day it was ordered that any man was justified in killing any
swine turned loose within a mile of the town plat with out being
yoked.
A Town meeting held May 4, 1697, directed that all the common
land westward of the two swamps on the south side of the Old Man's
path above the head of Drowned Meadow, extending southward to the
edge of the Great Plains northward tot he Old Man's path, and west a
mile beyond the south path, should lie in common for feed for cattle
and sheep.
In the early years, the clearing of underbrush on the
commons so as to promote the growth of grass for pasture received
general attention. In 1696, every man having a right of commonage was
required to furnish two days work a year toward clearing the
underbrush.
Three sheep pastures were laid out in 1714 - one of 150
acres, near the Old Man's, another near Nassekeag, and another west of
the town. About 1715, it was customary to sell the grass of the common
pastures at South (the meadows on Great South Bay) at auction to the
highest bidder.
On April 13,1730, a large tract of land lying between
the Old Man's cart path and the "path that leads to Nassekeag" to lie
in common forever.