Davenport Neck, New Rochelle

Davenport Neck is a peninsula in New Rochelle, New York, extending southwesterly from the mainland into Long Island Sound, and running parallel to the main shore. It divides the city's waterfront into two, with New Rochelle Harbor to the south and southwest, and Echo Bay, to the north and northeast. Glen Island and Neptune Island lie just to the west of the Neck, and Davids' and Huckleberry islands lie to the south.

The Neck is one of the most important historical localities in the City of New Rochelle. Before white settlements, Siwanoy Indians encamped here, finding an abundant source of fish and wildlife. Until the early 19th century tidal mills produced flour and other goods for local use and for export. With the advent of steamboat, and the resorts and inns that sprang up along the waterfront as a result, New Rochelle became an enormously popular destination by the mid-1800s. Davenport Neck was the choice location for the "summer homes" of wealthy vacationers.

It was on the southeast and south shores of this neck that the principal Indian settlements within the limits of New Rochelle were located, primarily on the southerly side of the Neck extending from the cove at the southerly corner of Davenport Park, westerly along the shore. The largest number of stone objects of Indian manufacture collected within the City have been found here, many of them of very fine workmanship, attesting the superior culture of those who inhabited these villages. It is along the shores of Davenport Neck that the greatest number of the specimens in the Indian collection at the headquarters of the Huguenot Historical Association in the Paine Cottage were found. The presence here of articles made from material foreign to the region, in some instances coming from as far away as the Ohio Valley, shows extensive trade relations with other tribes in the West. Such objects include arrowheads, grooved and axes, stone mortars, drills, knives and scrapers.

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