Amid raising funds to raise a barn, Three Village Historical Society is also looking to raise friends.
A so-called FRIENDraiser on Wednesday evening, June 28, was intended to provide a construction progress update and inform neighbors about the planned $1.3 million Dominick-Crawford Barn Education and History Center on North Country Road in East Setauket.
“People may drive by and not know what’s going on behind that fence,” said Kimberly Phyfe, the society’s development coordinator.
Rain soaked the site right up until the event started, but still about 100 visitors came out to join hard-hat tours of the construction site, listen to live music, buy pierogies and, of course, make donations — to the tune of about $3,000.
“We love this community and what we’re building here, so to see everybody come out and support us despite the downpours of rain is so heartening,” said Phyfe.
The barn, named for George and Sarah Dominick, who built the barn circa 1847, and William and Janet Crawford, its last private owners, will serve as a home for artifacts and exhibits, as well as an ADA-compliant event and education center on the ground floor that will be able to fit up to 183 people at a time.
That’s a far cry from the society’s museum next door to the construction site, where 15 people at a time can tour exhibits about the area’s history — the Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring and the multiethnic Chicken Hill community centered around first a piano factory and later a rubber factory.
During a hard-hat tour of the construction site, society president Jeffrey Schnee told visitors the larger space will dramatically improve logistics for the society’s history programs for students from Three Village Central School District, other school districts and BOCES programs.
“The schools always want to send more than one school bus,” Schnee said, adding that groups of students would have to wait outside while 15 classmates toured the museum. “That leaves an awkward situation.”
Instead, up to four buses of students can gather in the center’s main room, according to Schnee, where there will be a timber frame reconstruction of the historic barn with wood recovered from its original site in the Village of Old Field.
Subjects for future exhibits at the center include veterans of Three Village, women of Three Village and archaeology of historic sites around the area. There is also an oral history booth planned, where visitors can search by keyword and listen to available oral records.
“We’ll be able to bring more tourism to the area, and we’ll be able to explain more about the history of the area,” said Schnee.
The historical society is still looking to raise about $650,000 for the center and is planning to provide opportunities for community involvement in coming months, according to Phyfe. She said they are also looking into additional grants — the society previously received a $350,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and a $300,000 grant secured by former state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).
For more information about the barn education center, visit tvhs.org/buildthebarn.
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