Pergolas in Calverton, NY

Calverton was first referred to as “Baiting Hollow Station” when the Long Island Rail Road arrived in 1844. The station closed in 1958, but the sheltered shed for the station remained standing as of 2007.

The area’s Native American name was Conungum or Kanungum, meaning “fixed line” or “boundary”. In 1868, the Calverton post office opened, named for Bernard J. Calvert. It remained a small farming community specializing in cranberries, which grew in swampy areas along the Peconic River until the Navy purchase.

Calverton’s history is tied closely to Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton. In 1953, the United States Navy purchased 6,000 acres (24 km²) around Calverton from a local farmer named Harry Edwards, including the mansion of a grandson of Frank Winfield Woolworth’s, so that Grumman could test and finish jets. A 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway was built, and most of Grumman’s F-14 Tomcat and E-2C Hawkeye aircraft were to pass through the plant.