 This township was first settled at Setauket and reached most of its present size by 1657, with the names "Setauket" and "Brookhaven" interchangeably denoting either the smaller village or larger town.John Scott chose this region as the base of his activities and renamed it to Ashford, after his birthplace and questionable ancestral homeland.He constructed three stately houses, all named for homes of the Scott family in the original Ashford.