Besides farming an important
industry of early Brookhaven Town was milling and this was due to a
plentiful supply of flowing water from the Connecticut or Carman's
river as it is now known This river had its source in Pfeiffer's
Pond in Middle Island and flowed through Yaphank and South Haven on
its way to the Great South Bay. This river was important to the life
of the early settlers as it was the principal source of power for
this area.
A carding mill for combing wool for spinning and a fuling mill for shrinking home spun textiles was located on this
river north of Yaphank. Two saw and grist mills were in Yaphank and
one in South Haven. Yaphank was first called Millville because of
the many mills located on the river .It was changed to Yaphank an
Indian name for a near by creek, when the post office was
established in 1846.
The farmers for miles around brought their grain
to be ground at the grist mills and logs from their forest to be
sawed into timber and the women sent their wool to the carding
mills.
The
following entries appear in the diary of Minerva
Hutchinson of Middle Island in 1808. "July 26 at night our rolls were
brought home from the carding mill down the river. I began to spin
them. Very good rolls." "August 14; we got up very early in the
morning. I got to spinning about sunrise having had breakfast by candle
light.. Carding mixed wool for stocking yarn."
The country store of
Edward Pfeiffer in Middle Island was in operation for over a hundred
years and supplied the wants of the people for miles around before it was
closed in 1957. In the back end of the store were men's and women's
shoes felt and rubber boots around the sides of the store were the
sugar, and cracker barrels, boxes of tea, coffee, oatmeal, prunes, raisins
etc. as years ago groceries were sold in bulk and had to be weighted
out. In the back room hung hams, and bacon and there were barrels of
salt pork in brine, also the big "store cheese" from which pieces were
cut as wanted The kerosene barrel , vinegar barrel, and
molasses barrel were there, and "New Orleans molasses" was
an
important item and sold for 50 cents a gallon, on the other side of
the store were men's and women's clothing, calico dresses, men's
shirts and pants and sundries of all kinds. Hardware was sold as
well as harness, whips, horse blankets, paint, fertilizer, seeds and
farm supplies in fact almost every thing needed by those living in
the country.
The farmers brought in their butter and eggs and
swapped them for groceries and supplies and came nearly every day to
get their mail, as this was the post office also. Around the old pot
bellied stove in the rear of the store the news of the day was
discussed and the fate of the nation argued. The checker board was
always in use in this social center of the town and it was a
picturesque scene in years gone by with the hanging oil lamps and
the benches around the old stove. The country store has passed from
the scene and now we have the super markets and specialty stores of
all kinds.