The house was built in the 1840's by Captain Leek, in the tiny, tranquil hamlet of East Marion, midway between the historic, seaport Village of Greenport and the restored landmark Village of Orient. Complete with architectural details, including a magnificent Widow's Walk cupola, masses of Victorian gingerbread trim, hand-carved corbels and a wraparound porch. Quintessentials is listed on the Long Island Society for the Preservation of Antiquities.

Quintessentials has many beautiful high-ceilinged rooms and a handsome wooden staircase. Downstairs each room flows into the next--an elegant lounge with an old Steinway piano and carved wood and tile fireplaces; a grand dining room, an inviting library with a fine selection of books, magazines and board games, cozy sitting room with fireplace and comfortable sofas, a wide sun deck for open air living and al fresco breakfasts and our wrap-around porch to watch the world go by while sipping a Caribbean fruit punch in the summer.

Upstairs, the guestrooms are decorated with an eclectic selection of good antiques and yard sale finds. The carpeted rooms are large and airy with views onto the well-tended lawns, flower and vegetable gardens. Each room has air condition, an old-world ceiling fan, comfortable posturpedic bed, good reading lights, desk, and private bath with gleaming brass and ceramic fixtures, some with whirlpool tubs, some with fireplaces and some with private, furnished decks. Fresh flowers, monogrammed terry-lined silk or summer waffle-weave robes, hairdryer, alarm clock, DC player, TV, VCR, DVD player, radio, bottles of spring water and individually wrapped sweets are thoughtful additions to each room.

Quintessentials puts on a full brunch-breakfast with homemade breads and hot entrees. It is served in the formal dining room or al fresco on the sun deck. After breakfast, guests can stroll about the flower and organic vegetable gardens, relax in our meditation garden, or laze around on deck chairs to read or chat with fellow guests and the hostess. High tea is served in the Grand Salon in the afternoons. Guests can dine at one of the fine restaurants located near to Quintessentials or elsewhere on the North Fork. Quintessentials Spa offers the latest skincare and bodyworks and healing treatments for the mind, body and spirit.

Quintessentials is within walking distance to beaches, farms, tennis and golf. In Greenport, there are dozens of shops, restaurants, art galleries and a first-run cinema to visit. Must do's include wine tasting and tours of the North Fork vineyards or outlet shopping at the mega Tanger mall in Riverhead. Shelter Island is a short ferry ride away. From there, the Hamptons is only a hop away for shopping and celebrity watching and the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos are located within two hours.

About the villages of Orient and East Marion
Long Island, NY: The Orient, East Marion Story

Beginnings: The first inhabitants were the Orient Focus People, Indians who lived about 1000 BC. They vanished long before the arrival in about 900 AD of the Corchaugs, who called the area Poquatuc. The Corchaugs were still present when six English families settled in 1661. The new residents called the area Oysterponds because of the abundant shellfish that they began to gather and sell to nearby communities. While farming remained the principle occupation, trading vessels began operating out of the sheltered harbor during the colonial period.

The Revolution: British troops landed in 1776. Many families fled to Connecticut, and the Redcoats periodically plundered the farms they left behind. After Benedict Arnold switched sides, he organized raids on Connecticut from Oysterponds. The British returned during the War of 1812, setting up what turned out to be a porous blockade against American ships sailing to New York City. In 1814 Commodore Stephen Decatur anchored his American squadron off Trumans Beach but never engaged the British. After the war, renewed farming and fishing brought prosperity to Oysterponds. By 1840 more than 30 schooners were operating out of the harbor, carrying fish and produce.

Turning Point: Orient and East Marion originally were called Oysterponds Lower Neck and Oysterponds Upper Neck, respectively. In 1836, the two communities went their separate ways with new names. Orient was chosen to reflect the area's easternmost position on the North Fork. East Marion was named for Gen. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox of the Revolutionary War. "East" was tacked on because of an existing Marion upstate.

Brushes With Fame: By 1870 the tip of the North Fork had become a resort. And the Orient Point Inn, which opened in 1796, played host to President Grover Cleveland, Walt Whitman, orator Daniel Webster, actress Sarah Bernhardt and James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote "Sea Lions," set in Orient. (The inn closed in the 1960s and was demolished.) Meanwhile, members of one prominent Orient family did what they could to stave off public attention. They were the Tuthills, generally referred to in those less-sensitive days as the "Tuthill Dwarfs" or "Tiny Tuthills." Three Tuthill sisters, Cynthia, Lucretia and Asenath, were midgets and accomplished seamstresses. In the mid-1800s, their brother Rufus built them a house with reduced dimensions; it still stands on Village Lane. Their diminutive and shy nephew, Addison, declined P.T. Barnum's invitation to join his circus.

Claims to Fame: Most people today know Orient for the ferries to New London and for Orient Beach State Park. Regularly scheduled ferry service to Connecticut began in the 1930s. The park was created when the community deeded the bulk of the four-mile Long beach peninsula to the state in 1929. East Marion is the sleepy country hamlet with myriad bays and inlets, wildlife preserves and miles of rolling farmlands.

Where to Find More Information: Oysterponds Historical Society (631) 323-2480.

A Brief Account of Southold's History
by Antonia Booth

Southold's official flag proclaims it the oldest English town in New York State. Founded in 1640 by Puritans from the New Haven Colony, Southold celebrated its 350th birthday in 1990.

The many histories of Long Island written in the nineteenth century focus mainly on Southold's first one hundred years. Despite continued emphasis by historians and genealogists on the town's colonial beginnings, Southold's long history includes change as well as continuity, tensions as well as traditions, innovation as well as inflexibility.

In his influential 1845 history of Long Island, the Reverend Nathaniel Prime says without equivocation, "Southold was the first town settled on Long Island". Patterns of seventeenth century migration dictated that men should come first in order to assess the dangers of the New World and to prepare the way for women and children. Those sent out first usually possessed special skills like the carpenter, Richard Jackson, who built a house in Arshamomoque early in 1640. By the time the Reverend John Youngs, "organized his church anew" and left New Haven with his followers in October of 1640, it is highly probable that the men in the group had been in Southold for some time, preparing shelter and planting crops for the hard winter ahead.

When Youngs and his followers arrived in Southold (at the spot which in 1915 would be named Founders Landing), the adventurous Richard Jackson was ready to move on and had sold his land, "his dwelling house and all appurtenances" to another settler, mariner Thomas Weatherly.

Well before 1640, title to all the land from what is now Orient Point to Wading River was bought by New Haven's magistrates from the Corchaug Indians. Youngs and his congregation moved onto land already cleared by the Corchaugs, whose name for the area was Yennecott.

The main settlement was laid out, beginning from the Town Creek, in four acre lots.

A church in the congregational style was established on the northeast corner of the present cemetery of the First Church of Southold. The wealthiest of the heads of family accompanying Reverend Youngs was the baker, Barnabas Horton. William Wells acted as lawyer for the group and Thomas Mapes was their surveyor. The settlers brought in the famous Indian killer John Underhill, to live in the center of the community at Feather Hill. Fortunately, the Corchaugs were evidently few in number, peace loving and helpful and Underhill's services were not needed for long.

The church built in 1640 served the colonists in Southold not only for religious services but was also the center of town government and its arsenal. Each freeman from 16 to 60 was responsible for possessing his own gun and ammunition, for militia service, and for standing watch over the community. Fines were imposed for dereliction of duty and for disobedience. The colonists were so fearful of Indian attack that the church contained a gun rack where worshipers could store their guns during services.

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