Elizabeth A. Morton
National Wildlife Refuge
|2595 Noyak Rd.
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
Phone Number: 631-286-0485
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|The Refuge's beach peninsula is closed to public use April-August to protect the Federally threatened piping plover during their breeding season.|
Continued . . . Of the 13 principle tribes on Long Island, the Montauks and Shinnekocks once occupied what is now the Morton Refuge. In 1640, John Farrington and John Jessup, settlers from Massachusetts, founded the colony of South Hampton. In 1679, John Jessup took ownership of the Refuge's peninsula known today as "Jessups Neck." Some say you can feel Jessup's spirit to this day, as his daughter, Abigail, died and was buried there in 1724.
In 1800, Isaac Osborn acquired the land and performed important agricultural experiments. He takes fame for being the first to introduce shorthorn cattle and merino sheep to Long Island.
Over the years, ownership of the land passed through two families. In 1954, Elizabeth A. Morton donated her family's land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who designated it as a national wildlife refuge because of its value to migratory birds.
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