INTRODUCTION
THE PAST IN SOUTHAMPTON’S PRESENT

Vincentown, the traditional social and economic center of Southampton Township, constitutes a well-preserved historic district of roughly 200 structures. The origins of the settlement date back over 240 years and most of the development, from about 1800 through the early part of this century, is clearly evidenced in the architecture seen there today. In addition to the buildings there are the institutions, churches, businesses, and families housed within them that are all part of the town's cultural continuum. The local Masonic lodge continues to meet in the building they helped to construct 99 years ago; the "lower tavern" on Main Street continues to serve customers after more than 150 years; descendants of J. B. Irick live in the stylish Gothic mansion on the west end of town which he built in 1865 and the blacksmith shop on Mill Street, having long since made the logical transition to servicing "horseless carriages", continues doing business today. Perhaps even more striking is the historical character of the land surrounding Vincentown. Many of the farms that were served by the village continue to operate. The architecture of these farms, houses, barns and outbuildings is an extremely valuable and significant cultural resource that represents the historical context within which Vincentown evolved.

The village and the surrounding farms together represent the agrarian system which is the dominant heritage of Southampton Township. It is a system, however, that having reached its peak in the late 19th century has been continually challenged and changed over the past half century. Both transportation and the economics of land use have subjected the area to a different system than that which produced the village and the farms originally. This trend's effects can be observed in many important instances. The appearance of the Leisuretown retirement community (c. 1970) suddenly presented the township with a non-agrarian population center of over five times the size of the traditional township "seat" at Vincentown. The predictable changes in the location of major services and institutions are well underway. Important examples of this are the new township hall constructed in 1980 outside the village on State Hwy. 206 and the scheduled relocation in 1984 of the post office to the same highway. At the Same time the farms surrounding the town are either being subdivided, held for development or being amalgamated into larger operations. The farms remaining are not bound to Vincentown for services as they once were by the limits of slow transportation and so the old agriculture service economy of the town is nearly gone.

As a result of these dramatic, irreversible changes Southampton Township, its residents and officials, face the management issue of determining the future character of the community. The role that Southampton's past will play in the character and identity of the community in the future cannot be left to chance. The purpose of this study is to focus on the historic resource contained in the town, defining its origins and character and making recommendations for protecting and maintaining it.