Southampton

Settled in 1640 by a group of Puritans from Massachusetts, Southampton, NY, changed very little until the railroad line from New York City reached the village in 1870. Then, with daily trains traveling east, wealthy New Yorkers were amazed to discover a bucolic backwater just hours away. By the turn of the century, Southampton was ranked among the most fashionable resorts on the East Coast. Over 200 photographs, many rare and previously unpublished, illustrate the changes that came to agrarian Southampton as successive waves of summer residents arrived, first to stay in farmhouses refurbished as boarding houses, then building their own sprawling summer “cottages.” Drawn from local historical archives and private collections, these images will show how small-town life continued over the years in a place now world-renowned for its exclusive clubs, grand mansions, and celebrity residents.

The local community around the Nat Turner rebellion The 1831 Southampton Rebellion led by Nat Turner involved an entire community. Vanessa M. Holden rediscovers the women and children, free and enslaved, who lived in Southampton County before, during, and after the revolt. Mapping the region's multilayered human geography, Holden draws a fuller picture of the inhabitants, revealing not only their interactions with physical locations but also their social relationships in space and time. Her analysis recasts the Southampton Rebellion as one event that reveals the continuum of practices that sustained resistance and survival among local Black people. Holden follows how African Americans continued those practices through the rebellion’s immediate aftermath and into the future, showing how Black women and communities raised children who remembered and heeded the lessons absorbed during the calamitous events of 1831. A bold challenge to traditional accounts, Surviving Southampton sheds new light on the places and people surrounding Americas most famous rebellion against slavery.

A celebration of Southampton’s rich heritage and identity – its special events, achievements, people, industry and landmarks.

Many troops passed through Southampton on their way to the Western Front and it played a vital role as a staging post for departing troops and those returning badly injured.Many of men from Southampton also joined up and the enormity of human sacrifice that the families of Southampton were committed to as the war stretched out over the next four years was immense. The Great War affected everyone. At home there were wounded soldiers in military hospitals, refugees from Belgium and later on German prisoners of war. There were food and fuel shortages and disruption to schooling. The role of women changed dramatically and they undertook a variety of work undreamed of in peacetime. Meanwhile, men serving in the armed forces were scattered far and wide. Extracts from contemporary letters reveal their heroism and give insights into what it was like under battle conditions.

The Story of Southampton is a long overdue and engaging general history of the city, from the earliest times to the present day, taking into account its unique architectural development and heritage. It not only looks at the local history, but also how those events had a wider significance – especially in relation to the sea and communications. Peter Neal has an eye for a telling anecdote, and this, together with his lively tone and authoritative research, will make the book appealing to anyone who is seeking to find out more about this fascinating city.

Hamlet’s Age and the Earl of Southampton investigates the exact age of the eponymous prince in Shakespeare’s play, a topic which has been subject to frequent debates over the past 239 years. Whether Hamlet is sixteen, eighteen or, as the Gravedigger states in Act V, thirty years old may seem irrelevant to performances of the play (since actors tackling the part are very rarely in their teens), but it still tends to influence our general view of the Danish prince. Romantic criticism in the early 19th century insisted on a heroic and supremely intelligent teenage prince, and, to a large extent, this view of Hamlet still prevails. Whether Shakespeare meant his protagonist to be the irreproachable prince of Romantic fancy, however, remains a question. Numerous scholars have found references to the Earl of Essex in Hamlet, but Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, once indisputably Shakespeare’s patron, is a far more likely candidate. If Shakespeare had Southampton in mind when writing his Danish tragedy, this would account for the Gravedigger’s estimate of Hamlet’s age in Act V and explain several things that have puzzled us over the last four centuries.

Taking you through the year day by day, The Southampton Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, shocking, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the city. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Southampton’s archives and covering the social, criminal, political, religious, agricultural, industrial and military history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.