Recalls Thomas Pell, who bought land here from the Siwanoy in 1654 and named it Pelham.
Why he chose ‘Pelham’ is debated: one old explanation reads it as ‘home of the Pells’, while others say he honoured Pelham Burton, his tutor or guardian in England. Pell’s land became Pelham Manor after a patent from Governor Richard Nicolls in 1666; the park, created in 1888, covers its southernmost part. Pelham Bay itself is not a bay but a sound, open at both ends.