As the Brookhaven Seat of Government
The village of Coram’s halcyon days began in 1790 and ended in 1985. In 1790, the town decided to move the site from Setauket to Coram to provide a more convenient central location for the voters. The mode of government was the annual town meeting held in April. Here office holders were elected and issues of the day voted on. Probably the first meetings were in the Coram Baptist Church. Around 1800 the tavern-inn of Goldsmith Davis was chosen for meetings of the official boards of the town. During this period it was the seat of Brookhaven Town government. The Town Meeting was held at this building some 80 times until 1885 when the Town was divided into election districts.
History
The original owner of the house was most likely Elijah Davis (1727-1802) who kept a tavern-inn. He was succeeded by his son Goldsmith Davis (1756-1825) who was, it is said, hung upside down in a well during the Revolution by the British for refusing to divulge military information. From 1812 to 1840, the Davis House served as a base for a horse artillery company for the State Militia, which was a mobile force for the defense of Suffolk County. In addition, the house was used for regular meetings of militia officers due to its central location in the county.
The host of the inn, Captain Lester H. Davis (1807 – 1886) was the officer in charge for many years. The inn was a Temperance House in the mid 1800’s. By 1890 all commercial use ceased and it became solely a private residence. The Davises were always active participants in local politics, and as was the practice, used their homes as offices. They held a wide variety of Brookhaven Town positions including Town Board member and Suffolk County Treasurer.
Remarkably, from the time the house was built in the 1750’s until its sale to the Town of Brookhaven, all the owners of the house, with a two-year exception, were direct male descendants of Foulk Davis who came to Southampton, Long Island in 1642. Lester H. Davis III (1926 – 2017), the 7th and final Davis patriarch to own this house, sold the house to the Town of Brookhaven in 1999. Mr. Davis sold the house and 3/4 acres of land to the Town for $300,000 along with zoning concessions on other land that he owned. The Town later purchased the nearby plot of land that the Davis family cemetery is located on. For a view of the land layout that the house in on (two plots) as well as the land the cemetery is on (one plot), go to our website. www.DavisHouseSociety.org