When Long Island was first discovered by Europeans, it was occupied by 13 tribes or groups of Native Americans who inhabited the north and south shores of the Island.  Among the tribes on the north shore were the powerful  Setalcott (translated as “great neck”),  headquartered at Setauket, who inhabited the north side of what is now Brookhaven Township.  Indeed, the power of the Setalcott is reflected by the fact that they sold the first land in Brookhaven Town to white settlers.  Indeed, from 1655 to 1659, Setalcott Sachem Waewasen sold the area currently known as Old Field (used for farming) for a payment of coats, hoes, hatchets, needles, knives, kettles, and awls.  Shortly thereafter, in 1661, the First Division of the Old Field Land (into six acre lots) was undertaken by the Setauket freeholders.

Because of its remote location, Old Field was allocated for early grazing rights and developed neither a large population nor substantial commercial activity.  The high bluffs along Long Island Sound made direct water access quite difficult.

Indeed, its remoteness led the Town Trustees to chose Old Field as a site for a hospital to deal with a severe smallpox outbreak in 1770.  While the dedication in 1791 of Old Field Road improved accessibility, a 1797 map by the Town of Brookhaven Surveyor showed only two houses (one at Crane Neck and one at the juncture of Mt. Grey and Old Field roads).

For most of the 19th century, the full time residents of Old Field were cutting timber and cordwood; fishing; harvesting crops, salt bay, and oysters; and, for a short time, constructing schooners at the Dickerson Boatyard at Conscience Bay or operating the doomed Old Field Inn (which burned down soon after opening) at Old Field Point.  In 1874, Richard M. Bayles, described the settlement of Old Field as “twenty-five houses scattered along a road which leads from the west side of the mill-pond at Setauket, north and east, a distance of three miles.  This road opens through a section of beautiful farming land, which lies between the northwest shore of Conscience Bay and the Sound.”

However, the nature of Old Field changed as city dwellers, many of whom would become permanent residents,  increasingly built larger and grander residences.  In 1901 Eversley Childs created a five hundred acre estate on Crane Neck.  Frank and Jennie Melville completed Sunwood in 1919.  Ward and Dorothy Melville purchased and started renovating Widewater (originally named Old Field manor) in 1924.  The Old Field Improvement Association, active from 1902 to 1926, oversaw many projects, including the Quaker Path extension (providing direct access from Old Field Road to the Stony Brook rail station) and the construction of Mt. Grey Road.

In 1927, the small villages of West Meadow, Oldfield, and Conscience Bay were incorporated as the Village of Old Field which, at that time, claimed 271 residents in about sixty homes.  As the Village grew, Old Field saw a decrease in farms and summer residences, and an increase in multi-acre estates and full time residents.  Indeed, by the 1950s, Village Historian Mildred H. Gillie wrote, “Old Field is a small incorporated village of about 250 inhabitants...Stately trees and gracious homes, some of them over a hundred years old, line its main thoroughfare, Old Field Road.”

Following World War II, Old Field witnessed the sale of large parcels of land for new home building and the advent of two acre zoning in 1954.  The first subdivision areas of the 1950s (Woodcrest Estates, Blueberry Ridge, Flax Pond Woods) expanded in the 60s (Crane Neck Bluffs, West gate Lane, Wood hull Cove, Brambletye Farm), the 70s (Convent Estates, East Gate Lane, Evans/Old Field Woods); and the 80s (Westra/Trillium, Blueberry Ridge North).  As a result, the population of Old Field has grown at a rapid rate, from 250 in 1950 to 975 in 2007. 

While Old Field has changed dramatically from its earliest days to the present, the one constant has been a people committed to preserving the beauty and serenity of their beautiful village; contributing in countless way to the betterment of their community and beyond; and extending the welcome hand of friendship to all who visit or decide to make this their permanent home.