Southampton History Museum

Whaling captain Albert Rogers built this handsome Greek Revival mansion in1843, but the story begins in 1645 when the Southampton settlement moved from its original site (Old Town) to Main Street (formerly Town Street) — its new center. Town Records dated March 6, 1645 announce that the lot on the corner of Main Street and Meeting House Lane was awarded to William Rogers, a leader among Southampton’s settlers. The first dwelling was built in 1648 and what followed was 8 generations of Rogers family ownership, with refinements made once the whaling boom brought prosperity. Shipbuilders and captains like Albert Rogers could spend lavishly on their homes and fill them with treasures from exotic port cities. After Albert’s death in 1854, the home stayed in the family until it was purchased by a prominent physician, Dr John Nugent in 1889, who built the carriage barn. Ten years later, the property was sold to Samuel Longstreth Parrish, who retired from his law practice to live full time in Southampton. He enlarged the home and in 1926-27 and moved it back from its original position on Main Street. He commissioned Grosvenor Atterbury to build the surviving handsome brick-fronted shops which still remain on Main Street, where the house once stood. Parrish left a widow when he died in 1932 and she kept the home until the Village bought it in 1943 and arranged for its use as a headquarters for the Red Cross and later the YMCA. In 1951, the Mansion was leased to the organization that later became the Southampton History Museum, which it remains today.