What's In A Name?

MOLLY'S HILL

A plaque was placed at the triangular piece of land in Springs known as Molly's Hill in 1976, during the celebration of the nation's bicentennial. It is at the intersection of Fireplace Road and Gerard Drive, which old timers still call Old Fireplace Road.

The hill has been leveled off since Molly's day. She was Molly Pharaoh, the mother of Stephen (Talkhouse) Pharaoh, the legendary Montaukett walker, at one time connected with the P.T. Barnum circus. In 1853, East Hampton Town records refer to the location as Talkhouse Hill, which had then been conveyed to John G. Gardiner.

Stephen Talkhouse, whose father was the sachem Sylvester Pharaoh, was born in his mother's wigwam at Molly Hill in 1819.

Almost nothing is known about Molly herself. In her "East Hampton History and Genealogies," Jeannette Edwards Rattray records that she worked as a cook for Col. William D. Parsons, who lived nearby.

M.N.