Higher Ground Inter-Cultural & Heritage Association
The only historic district in Long Island designated and registered by the municipal Town Government authority as historically significant specifically because of its remarkable cultural content.
This community is the last surviving fully functional indigenous Afro-American site in Long Island with highly important evidence of cultural authenticity and ancestral roots traceable back to an original community established in Setauket, NY, around 1791-1810. The significantly preserved natural environment of this site also contains the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church established in 1848.
This place matters because clear and definitive physical evidence of the past history of Afro-Native Americans in Long Island is not simply required for historical and cultural authenticity, but there is also the more important requirement that a thriving active community maintain the resourcefulness to perpetuate the longevity of the existing residents and their future generations. Gentrification within this historic district has accelerated since 1993, and is rapidly forcing the displacement of the indigenous residents and their historical inventory. The accompanying photo of the David Eato House is a stark and vivid reminder of what happens to a community when people are forced out. The disappearance of the descendants of two hundred year old Afro-Native American families would represent a tragic loss of American history. This place matters because clear and definitive physical evidence of the past history of Afro-Native Americans in Long Island is not simply required for historical and cultural authenticity, but there is also the more important requirement that a thriving active community obtain and maintain the resourcefulness to perpetuate the longevity of the existing residents and their future generations. Accelerated gentrification is forcing the removal of the historic indigenous families and their historical inventory. This onerous threat makes the struggle to preserve this place a prime priority, not just for the indigenous community but also as a source of authentic history for all Americans.
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