The community derives its name from Peconic Bay, which in turn derives its name from a Native American word meaning “nut trees”. The area was originally called “Hermitage”, and the name “Peconic” was adopted later. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was home to the Peconic School, an artist colony initially led by painters Benjamin Rutherfurd Fitz, Edward August Bell, Henry Prellwitz and Edith Mitchill Prellwitz. Albert Einstein was staying in Peconic in 1939 when he signed the famous Einstein-Szilárd letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Goldsmith’s Inlet was the site of a tidal mill that was improved with a windmill in 1870.
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