New research unveiled on Wednesday sheds light on the area's history of slavery.

The North Fork Project says between the mid-1600s to the early 1800s, an estimated 550 slaves lived and labored in the region.

One story told during the meeting in Jamesport was about Lymas Reeve, who was enslaved on the Cutchogue farm.

His story was turned around when he was able to inherit land after being enslaved.

Historian Richard Wines says he made his way into the world and his son managed to go to college and become a minister of an African American church.

Reeves' son would go on to start the theology department at one of the first Black colleges.

Many of the enslaved people's names were not even recorded before a certain time.

Wines says the research is something we should all know about.

"The early histories of this area have barely a word about enslavement and yet it was pervasive," Wines says. "People didn't talk about it, people still don't like talking about it."