Killingworth
Village of Lattingtown, Nassau County, New York
Marker Inscription
Adjacent to this spot stood "Killingworth," home of Captain John Underhill (1597–1672), distinguished military officer, statesman, pioneer. Nearby is his final resting place in the Underhill Burying Ground.
Erected by Nassau County Historical Society
The Story
Here on the north shore of Long Island once stood "Killingworth," the estate of Captain John Underhill (1597–1672), a soldier who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and became one of colonial New England's most consequential — and controversial — military commanders. Underhill led English forces in the Pequot War of the 1630s, later served the Dutch in their wars against Native peoples around New Netherland, and eventually settled on Long Island, where he held public office and lived out his final years. The house is gone, but his grave endures in the nearby Underhill Burying Ground, tying this quiet Nassau County ground to the earliest, most turbulent decades of European colonization.
Why it matters
Underhill's life traces the hard edges of 17th-century colonial expansion — the alliances, wars, and displacement of Native nations that accompanied English and Dutch settlement of the Northeast.
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Related people
- · Captain John Underhill
Related events
- · Pequot War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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