Davenport Neck was the home of the Siwanoys in the seventeenth century before the arrival of the Huguenots. Over the years many Siwanoy artifacts have been found which demonstrate their trading activities with other tribes, some as far away as the Ohio Valley.

Thomas Pell purchased the Neck from the Indians in 1654, and in October 1666, received his patent from the Governor as deed for the property. The Neck was called Pell's Little Neck to distinguish it from a larger piece of land he owned along the shore.

The Huguenots, French refugees escaping persecution, sought religious freedom in America. Traveling by boat from New York, they landed on the Neck and chose to settle along the New Rochelle shoreline because of its ideal location for fishing and planting. A New York merchant, Jacob Leisler, and six other men, later purchased the Neck from Pell and divided it among themselves. Leisler became the largest landholder of the group.

After the Edict of Nantes, (which had assured religious freedom in France), was revoked in 1685, more Huguenots arrived in America. Leisler purchased 6,000 additional acres because the Neck could no longer accommodate the large number of settlers. This land was called New Rochelle after the Huguenot stronghold, La Rochelle in France.

Eventually, Jacob Leisler, Jr. and Guilliaume LeConte acquired the original properties along the Neck which then became known as "Leisler's and LeConte's Neck." Later, in 1724, Anthony Lipsenard acquired both portions of this land on which he built mills and a mill-dam between the Neck and the main shore.

In October, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, General Knyphausen and his Hessian troops landed on the Neck to join General Howe's army in New Rochelle before the Battle of White Plains. After the Revolutionary War a piece of the Neck was sold to Newberry Davenport, who re-named the land Davenport Neck. The Neck remained in the Davenport family for 145 years.