Dayton's Neck is the historical name given to the neck of land east of Mott's Creek and the Village of Bellport and Tarmen's Neck.

It was on this neck of land that the first permanent European settled "at South" about 1678.

Osborne Shaw's "History of Brookhaven Hamlet.," page 5.
The Brookhaven/South Haven Hamlet Study, 1995.

Much of the wet land areas are under government control. Suffolk County acquired the Hawes Property at the eastern edge of the neck in July 1992, opposite the former Marist Brothers retreat (a.k.a. George Washington Lodge, see Br10.11-S) on the south side of South Country Road. This fine, 38-acre preserve consists of a mature hardwood area at the northern end, merging at the lower levels into wooded swampland and marsh further south. It is a good stopping-off point for migrating birds in spring and fall, On June 13, 1995, the Suffolk County Legislature voted to designate this land as the Dennis Puleston Nature Preserve.

In 2011, 9.6 acres of the Washington Lodge estate north of South Country road was purchased in a joint venture with the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County and the Post Morrow Foundation. A large adjacent site has been purchased by a private party with the intent of maintaining it as open space/farm land.

John Deitz