A Counter-Map of Setauket, New York

A COUNTER-MAP OF SETAUKET, NEW YORK
Christopher N. Matthews, Alexis Alemy, and Sophia Hudzik
A Counter-Map of Setauket, New York is an online, interactive ‘Story Map’ about a Native and African American community on Long
Island, New York. Story Maps can be of vital use to archaeologists and other researchers by providing a low-cost, relatively easy way to
make scholarship accessible to the public in an exciting online format. Here, we describe the purpose of the map and how we created it.
In Rethinking the Power of Maps, Dennis Wood explains that maps, usually regarded as unbiased visualizations, are in fact carefully
constructed versions of reality that represent the interests and perspectives of those who are empowered to create them. The problem in
Setauket is that the historic Native and African American Community fights to be recognized for their contribution to the historical
record, despite the fact that Setauket cultivates an identity as a historic town.
Since the town’s predominantly Native and African American neighborhood was not included in any of Setauket’s three historic districts,
their homes were not protected by preservation statutes. As Setauket gentrified in the late 20th Century, homes have been sold and lost.
Erased from historical memory and excluded from the historic preservation measures that protect other historical sites in town, the
presence of Setauket’s minority community shrinks with each passing year.
After a recognized historic house was demolished in the neighborhood in 2005, the minority community organized to establish the
Bethel-Christian Avenue-Laurel Hill Historic District. This designation seeks to strengthen the narrative of their past and secure their
future in the village. The community invited archaeologists and historians to dig deeper into the historical and material record. Results of
this research make up the content of the counter-map we created.
The counter-map is structured as a ‘story map’, meaning that it tells the story of a specific community using a collection of the memories,
memorabilia, and archaeological data culminating in a visual and written experience designed not only to recount the story, but to place
it physically on the map. We began with a list of sites and stories collected through interviews, excavations, and historical
documentation undertaken by the community members as well as faculty and students of Montclair State and Hofstra University. We
then created pages for each site that reveal their locations, explain their significance, and include pertinent and compelling images.
Next, we uploaded a spreadsheet of coordinates and other information about the sites to the ArcGIS story Map site. Each site showed up
as a customized pin point indicating, for example, whether a site had been excavated or if the structure was still standing. These
attributes enrich the story of both the preservation and neglect of Setauket’s Native and African American heritage.
Once complete the story map arranges lots of small pieces and stories in a coherent, interactive narrative frame. Together they create a
new and larger story that challenges the dominant historical narrative of Setauket and establishes the long presence of the Native and
African American community across Setauket’s landscape.
Christopher N. Matthews, Alexis Alemy, and Sophia Hudzik, Montclair State Univeristy, [email protected]
Keywords: African American, Historical Archaeology, Mapping, New York, Native American, Long Island, New York, Setauket
Permanent URI: http://www.saa.org/CurrentResearch/pdf/saa_cro_277_A_CounterMap_of_Setauket,.pdf
External Links: http://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=6c19b6a5d9784f239729781116151969
Bounding coordinates (decimal degrees):
West: 40.89 North: -73 East: 40.98 South: -73.19
Citation Example: Christopher N. Matthews, Alexis Alemy, and Sophia Hudzik (2016) A Counter-Map of Setauket, New York. SAA Current Research 277,
http://www.saa.org/CurrentResearch/pdf/saa_cro_277_A_CounterMap_of_Setauket,.pdf, accessed (current date)
Current Research Online No: 277:1
Copyright ©2016 Society for American Archaeology
Home page of the Setauket Counter-Map
Current Research Online No: 277:2
Copyright ©2016 Society for American Archaeology
Google Earth images showing site locations with specialized identifiers
Research Methods page showing locations of archaeological sites
Current Research Online No: 277:3
Copyright ©2016 Society for American Archaeology
Example of 'site' page showing diverse sources used in the presentation
Current Research Online No: 277:4
Copyright ©2016 Society for American Archaeology
Co-author Alexis Alemy excavating at the Tobais Site in 2015
Current Research Online No: 277:5
Copyright ©2016 Society for American Archaeology
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