Theodore Roosevelt County Park

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Theodore Roosevelt County Park (formerly Montauk County Park) is just east of Montauk, New York and includes:

Montaukett Village where the Native Americans originally settled and home of Chief Wyandanch and Stephen Talkhouse
Deep Hollow Ranch - The first cattle ranch in the United States established in 1658
Third House - There were only three houses on the eastern tip of Long Island in the 1700s. This was the third one going from west to east. It became the home of Arthur Bensen who bought the land in the 1880s forcing the Montauketts off of it.
Camp Wikoff where Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders as well as 28,000 soldiers were quarantined after returning from the Spanish-American War in 1898.

1 Montaukett Village
2 Deep Hollow Ranch
3 Third House
4 Camp Wikoff
5 External links

[edit] Montaukett Village

Stephen Talkhouse

The Montaukett tribe originally occupied this area of Long Island. In the late 1600s Chief Wyandanch gave much of the south fork of Long Island to Lion Gardiner. The tribe remained in area. The ruins of a sweat lodge and part of the village are still visible. Stephen Talkhouse famed for his 30-50 mile round trip walks to East Hampton and inspiration for the Paumanok Path is buried here.

[edit] Deep Hollow Ranch

Deep Hollow Ranch sign

Deep Hollow Ranch claims to be the birthplace of the American cowboy after being founded as a cattle ranch in 1658. It has been operating continuously ever since and now offers horse and hay rides. At its peak 6,000 cattle, horses and sheep roamed the land.

[edit] Third House

Montauk Third House

In the 1700s three houses were on the eastern tip of Long Island running from west to east. First House in Napeague, New York was to burn, Second House is near the populated center of Montauk and now operates as a museum and Third House operated as the headquarters of Deep Hollow Ranch. In 1879 Arthur Bensen bought virtually all of the land on the eastern end from Napeague to Montauk Point. He made Third House his home. The purchase was to force the Montauketts off the island. He hoped to make the area a resort after Austin Corbin extended the Long Island Rail Road to Montauk.

[edit] Camp Wikoff

Map of deployment at Camp Wikoff

Bensen's plans to work out and he sold much of the land to the federal government for Army, Navy and eventually an Air Force bases.

Camp Wikoff which was used to quarantine soldiers including Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War.

Camp Wikoff, named for Col. Charles Wikoff of the 22nd U.S. Infantry who was killed in the San Juan Heights assaults, was constructed on five thousand acres (20 km²) of land.

Camp Wikoff was to eventually be broken up. However in World War II sections of the Camp were to be used for massive gun emplacements and concrete observation bunkers as part of the New York coastal defense. During the Cold War a huge radar was built at the Camp Hero section. Three state parks which still include portions of the federal military complex and its infrastructure have emerged:

Other portions of the camp were sold to private developers.