East Marion is a census-designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York, United States.

The new residents called the area Oysterponds because of the abundant shellfish that they began to gather and sell to nearby communities.

While farming remained the principal occupation, trading vessels began operating out of the sheltered harbor during the colonial period.

The British returned during the War of 1812, setting up what turned out to be a porous blockade against American ships sailing to New York City.

In 1814 Commodore Stephen Decatur anchored his American squadron off Trumans Beach but never engaged the British.

Orient was chosen to reflect the area's easternmost position on the North Fork of Long Island.

The Orient Point Inn, which opened in 1796, played host to President Grover Cleveland, poet Walt Whitman, orator Daniel Webster, actress Sarah Bernhardt and author James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote "Sea Lions", set in Orient.

In the mid-19th century, their brother Rufus built them a house with reduced dimensions; it still stands on Village Lane.

The park was created when the community deeded the bulk of the 4-mile-long (6 km) beach peninsula to the state in 1929.

East Marion is a sleepy country hamlet with myriad bays and inlets, wildlife preserves and miles of rolling farmlands.