Students pet re-enactor Frank Bedford's horse on Nov. 9
Students pet re-enactor Frank Bedford’s horse on Nov. 9
By Alex Petroski
The Revolutionary War leapt from the textbooks and onto the fields of Northport Middle School during an afternoon performance on Monday.
The school’s seventh-graders were treated to a day of fresh air and visual demonstrations by Boots and Saddles Productions, a Freeport-based group that specializes in “living history.”
Principal Tim Hoss said about 250 students attended the “in-house field trip.”
“What better way to learn then being immersed in it?” Hoss said.
Dixie Francis works with a spinning wheel in front of students on Nov. 9
The students were split into groups and spent time at the five different stations set up by re-enactors.
Gen. George Washington, rebels and British soldiers greeted the students with tales of betrayal to the throne and last ditch pleas to join the Redcoats. A female re-enactor taught kids about the role of women during the Revolution.
The students had the opportunity to ask questions of the re-enactors, pass around props and hear deafening blasts from prop guns.
“They’re actually interacting with us and they’re showing us, not just reading out of a textbook, so we get to hear from them how it was,” Griffin Crafa said. “Now I can actually see it. I heard it, so it’s in my mind, whereas in the textbook you have to just copy notes down and … it doesn’t really stay in your mind.”
Meghan Sheridan said she had fun and Cami Tyrer, referencing the loud musket shots that echoed across the Northport Middle School playing fields, said, “It was a blast, and we learned so much.”
Social studies teacher Barbara Falcone, who organized the event for the second consecutive year, was happy with how the day turned out.
“This is what real learning should be like,” Falcone said. “They’re getting out from behind those dusty computer screens. They’re being outside and they’re seeing from all of these people what real life was like during that period.”
Falcone said the students will remember this event for many years.
Re-enactor Joe Bilardello expressed a similar sentiment: “Out here it’s like we jumped from the history books.”
Three Oct. 17 Spirits Tour interpreters, from left to right, Dennis O’Connor as Abraham Woodhull, Bonnie Bryant O’Connor as Abraham Woodhull’s wife Mary, and Beverly Tyler as Colonel Benjamin Floyd. Photo from Beverly Tyler
By Beverly C. Tyler
Good evening! Colonel Benjamin Floyd at your service. I was born here in Setauket in 1740, and I started school here at the age of 6 in our one-room schoolhouse. Anna Smith, a good friend and neighbor, started school the same year as me. Anna later married Selah Strong. We were both Loyalists during the Revolutionary War, or so I thought, and we stayed here after British forces took control of Long Island in August of 1776.
I lived my entire life in the Floyd ancestral home here in Setauket behind the Setauket Presbyterian Church and overlooked Setauket Harbor. My father, Colonel Richard Floyd, lived here until his death in 1771. He was appointed judge of the Suffolk County Court of Common Pleas and supervisor of Brookhaven town and president of the Brookhaven Trustees until 1763.
I was very proud of my father and basically followed in his footsteps as a trustee of Brookhaven town starting in 1772, and then as Supervisor of Brookhaven in 1774 and 1775.
With British control of Long Island, I was again elected as town supervisor in both 1777 and 1778. In fact all our Brookhaven town trustees were Loyalists including my neighbors in Setauket, Joseph Brewster and Gilbert Smith. The Loyalists were a majority in the town when I was elected. Those with Patriot leanings including Jonathan Thompson and Selah Strong lost their seats on the Town Board. In fact, Jonathan Thompson and his son Dr. Samuel Thompson fled to Connecticut and I heard that they had joined in supporting the Patriot cause in Connecticut.
Selah Strong was actually arrested and imprisoned in New York City in 1778 for alleged correspondence with the enemy. However, his wife Anna appealed to her brother and other Loyalists in Manhattan and got him released. He then fled to Connecticut. Anna stayed here on the neck with her six children and kept the farm going as well as she could. We all helped each other during this very difficult time and Anna was particularly looked after by her neighbor across Little Bay, Abraham Woodhull. I had thought that Woodhull was a Loyalist during the war but I found out later that he had been a spy for General Washington.
Other Loyalists who lived in Setauket included John Bayles, Dr. George Muirson and Caroline Anglican Church Pastor James Lyons.
I married Ann Cornell in 1767 and we had four children between 1768 and 1773. Unfortunately our first child, Margaret, only lived two years and my wife Ann died after giving birth to our third son, Samuel, in 1773. My mother , Elizabeth, helped me as much as she could until her death in April of 1778.
Members of my family were split during the Revolutionary War with many including my brother and I supporting the British Crown and remaining loyal to His Royal Highness King George the third. In fact my father and my brother Richard and I were loyal members of the Anglican Church in Setauket. My father was the first warden of Caroline Church and helped get the Anglican church organized and the building built in 1729. I am very proud that I again followed my father as a warden and member of the vestry of the church.
By 1780, British and Loyalist forces had stripped many areas of Long Island of their cattle, horses, hay, wheat, cordwood and anything else of value. British and Loyalist officers gave us chits, written notes, for what they took and said we would receive compensation after they won the war. In addition the officers allowed their troops to take much of what remained without any thought of repayment. By 1780, we were in need of many of the basic things to sustain life in our communities. It was for these reasons as well as for many atrocities committed against Long Island residents that many who had been Loyalists wanted nothing more than for the British to be gone, thus in actual fact becoming Patriots.
Thus in May of 1780, I was voted out of office and Selah Strong, a Patriot who only recently returned to his home in Setauket, was elected as supervisor of the Town of Brookhaven. The tide of war was turning in favor of General Washington, despite the fact that British forces still controlled much of Long Island and would continue to do so until after November of 1783. Like many Long Islanders I was torn between loyalty and reality. I chose to support my community and the direction it was headed but I wisely kept a low profile.
I continued on the vestry of Caroline Church and worked over the next few decades, as America became an independent country, to help the new Caroline American Episcopal Church become a valued addition to religious diversity in the United States of America.
Editor’s note: Benjamin Floyd died in 1820 and is buried in the Floyd plot of the Setauket Presbyterian Church cemetery.
Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.
Tour guide Dan Sheehan on one of his tours with the Northport Historical Society. Photo from Northport Historical Society
The Northport Historical Society is hosting a Jack Kerouac-guided walking tour through Northport Village on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The Kerouac Crawl event will include stops at various drinking establishments including Gunther’s Tap Room, where the famous literary figure frequented, as well as Rockin’ Fish, Skipper’s Pub and more.
Northport resident Dan Sheehan will lead the tour and he will include a thorough history of Main Street’s dynamic during Kerouac’s time in Northport.
The fee is $25 for members and $30 for nonmembers, and includes the tour, refreshments at the museum and a souvenir.
From left, Brookhaven Councilwoman Valerie Cartright, Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn, state Assemblyman Steve Englebright and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie pose for a photo with historical documents. Photo by Giselle Barkley
He is not only the first African-American Speaker of the New York State Assembly, but also the first speaker to visit various districts on Long Island, as far as one long-standing North Shore lawmaker can remember.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) visited Setauket on Oct. 20, and met with residents and North Shore government officials, including Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket); Brookhaven Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station); and state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).
“This happens about once every … well, it never has happened,” Englebright joked. “It’s pretty amazing.”
While touring the area was on Heastie’s agenda, his visit was also about getting better acquainted with the needs and concerns of residents in areas like Setauket, he said.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie stands in front of Patriots Rock. Photo by Giselle Barkley
“When members get up and speak in conference, when they talk about what’s important to them or where they want us to concentrate or try to do things in the budget … [visiting the districts gives] me a better idea of what they’re speaking about,” Heastie said in an interview.
Heastie was elected Speaker of the NYS Assembly on Feb. 3. Since his election, Heastie has tackled a variety of issues including education, homelessness, financial stability for families and minimum wage, among other areas of concern.
The speaker also has ties to the greater North Shore community, as he graduated from Stony Brook University in 1990 with a degree in science. State Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) was recently named the Senate majority leader, making the North Shore’s presence strong in the state Legislature.
Although Heastie had limited time to mingle, Englebright guided Heastie around various areas in Setauket, touring the community’s coveted GreenwayTrail, and introducing him to the history of the region and the role it played in the birth of the United States, starting with Patriot’s Rock in Setauket, where the famous Battle of Setauket was fought.
Officials from Stony Brook University library were on hand to deliver the speaker a copy of a famous letter George Washington signed at West Point during the Revolutionary War.
“I used to teach political science and American history,” Heastie said. “So I’m kind of a history buff. It’s just something that was a little different than other parts of the tour, so this was nice — particularly with it being so close to the college that I graduated from.”
After learning about Long Island’s link to the Culper Spy Ring, dating back to the Revolutionary War era, the speaker stopped at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, followed by a visit to Gallery North in Setauket.
Throughout the visit, Englebright and other North Shore leaders used their time with the speaker to reiterate some of the region’s most pressing issues, including preservation and environmental sustainability. Englebright also reaffirmed Heastie’s desire to tour the districts as a means of helping those he represents and serves as speaker.
“He’s very interested in visiting the various districts and learning of what his members are working on,” Englebright said. “I’m one of his senior members, and I’m very grateful he wants to come out and see what are the things I’m really focused on in the district.”
Gen. George Washington (John Galla) with his headquarter’s flag. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Gen. Benedict Arnold (Brian Cea). Photo by Heidi Sutton
The chilly 45-degree weather did not deter almost 300 brave souls who came out for a special walk through local history last Saturday night as the Three Village Historical Society held its 21st annual Spirits Tour, “The Culper Spy Ring: From Secrecy to Victory.”
“The Culper Spy Ring has really been making news lately,” Carolyn Benson, one of the tour guides, said. This tour shows “how many people from this area were involved.”
The host of the tour, Emma S. Clark, whose name graces the library in Setauket and was portrayed by Karin Lynch, set the scene for what was to come.
“The Culper Spy Ring was a group of men known as the Secret Six who helped George Washington win the war. … Their identity was so secretive that Gen. Washington never knew their true identity. Their messages were written in code and their letters were in invisible ink,” she said. “Tonight you will meet with these patriots and some loyalists who will share their stories with you about what it was like during and after the war.”
Helen ‘Morningstar’ Sells and Nellie Edwards of the Setalcott Nation. Photo by Heidi Sutton
The 1.5-hour tours ran throughout the evening, beginning with the Young Historian tours. Each group, carrying flashlights and lanterns, was led through the cemeteries of the Setauket Presbyterian Church [established in the late 17th century] and the Caroline Church of Brookhaven [established in 1729].
All the key players were present, from the ring’s most active operatives — Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, Caleb Brewster, Austin Roe, Anna Smith Strong, James Rivington and Robert Townsend — to Gen. George Washington and Abraham Woodhull, the leader of the Culper Spy Ring, to Gen. Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor. Woodhull, portrayed by Dennis O’Connor, appeared at the foot of his own grave in the Presbyterian cemetery during the tour.
Lesser-known community spirits made appearances as well, including Bette Harmon, born into slavery to the Strong family; Maj. John Andre, a British spy whose capture exposed Benedict Arnold as a traitor; loyalist Col. Benjamin Floyd; patriot Rev. Zachariah Greene; and a special appearance bySetalcott Nation members Helen “Morning Star” Sells and Nellie Edwards. In total, 20 spirits were conjured to provide an insight into their lives during the Revolutionary War. The period costumes, provided by Nan Guzzetta, gave the entire event an eerily authentic feel.
Private David Williams (George Monez), Major John Andre (Pat DiVisconti), Private Isaac Van Wart (Sage Hardy). Photo by Heidi Sutton
At each stop, the spirits gave out secret codes that, when compiled and decoded, formed a secret letter for Gen. Washington, who was the last stop of the night.
Nine-year-old Alex Perrone, of Stony Brook, was experiencing the tour for the first time with his mother, Lauren, but came well prepared.
“My mom and I read a book called ‘Redcoats and Petticoats,’” he said.
Alex enjoyed the tour, especially meeting Washington and learning about the Setalcott tribe and their longhouses, and said he would definitely do it again. His mom agreed, adding, “I just thought it was really informative and I thought the actors were wonderful and I think it was a great way to learn about local history and this special place.”
In all, the 21st annual Spirits Tour was a rare historical treat. For more information, visit the historical society at www.tvhs.org.
East Setauket “school on the hill,” the Setauket Union Free School was opened in 1911 and closed in 1951. Photo taken from the school field also shows the one-story first- and second-grade classrooms. Photo from Beverly Tyler
By Beverly C. Tyler
My daily experiences in the community around me in the 1940s and ‘50s was an extension of my experiences at school.
The first seven-and-a-half years I attended the Setauket Union Free School on the hill in East Setauket. We had lessons and studying, but most of that is a blur of unremembered activity in the classroom. The real school day consisted of relationships with many of the same people I would see outside the classroom setting. Brief, but wonderful, free times each day on the school playground, on the grassy areas around the school building and on the school field were times to talk and play with classmates and other kids.
We were outside winter and summer, even occasionally when it was raining and definitely when it was snowing. While we played, we joked and talked about teachers, about each other and many things that really didn’t matter, but they were shared experiences.
We knew a lot about each other without ever really spelling it out, and we had no idea how close we were to each other. We cared, we shared, we laughed and we occasionally cried, and we did it face to face every day.
Most of the kids around my age lived within a couple of miles of the school, and many lived within walking distance. I took the bus most days, especially when the weather was bad, driven by Jesse Eikov or one of his other bus drivers like Bill Owen or Gene Hutchinson.
Sometimes a few of us would walk the mile to school, but, since there was so much to do along the way, we were in danger of being late. In the first couple of years in school, explorations into the community and neighborhood around my home and between home and the school were done with my family.
By the time I was in third or fourth grade, it was mostly with schoolmates and friends around my age. We explored woods, fields, ponds, streams, wetlands, abandoned buildings and neighbors’ yards with abandon. We easily walked and biked a mile or two from home without any concern from our parents. Many of our schoolmates and friends had parents that worked in the local area.
Our schoolmates’ parents ran the East Setauket stores, and many of our teachers lived close by, often too close when we were not behaving the way we knew we should.
We never called each other on the phone; we just met on the street after school and on weekends. We were always at the post office in Setauket when the mail was delivered from the train around 6 p.m.
Everyone in the community picked up their mail between about 6 and 6:30 p.m. We hung around near the post office where the old men sat on the benches outside and smoked their pipes, not just waiting for the mail but catching up on the news of the day and the latest goings-on.
There was never any reason for teachers to take us on field trips in the local area, even places like the firehouse.
We went there with our parents or classmates or friends. This does not seem to be the case today, at least not to the same extent. Children are not on their own after school as we were. My grandchildren, like many children today, have soccer, baseball, T-ball, dance, gymnastics, karate, music lessons and other activities that fill every day after school.
We might have had an organized sport or music lessons once a week and then Sunday school and church on Sunday, but that was it. Now, too often, it’s seven days a week for organized or group activities. We learned the joys of just playing. We made up games, played with balls, bats and sticks.
We rode our bikes around the area and skinned our knees racing around the macadam tennis court by the Neighborhood House. In the summer we found old, leaky rowboats and used them as pirate ships on the millpond. We walked the stream where it went through the woods behind houses along Main Street, caught frogs and played with turtles. We built forts wherever we could and had secret hiding places in the woods and along the stream.
We learned to protect and appreciate the areas that were our own places to play. We climbed the trees and looked into the birds’ nests and tried to put back young birds that had fallen to the ground, usually unsuccessfully. We picked up box turtles on the road and placed them in the woods.
We knew all of our neighbors and understood where we were welcomed and where we were not. Looking back on that time and place, I know how much it meant to me and how much it still means. Classmates who have moved away come back for reunions and say that there was no better place to grow up than right here.
Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.
Yogi Berra was an iconic major league baseball catcher for the New York Yankees. Public domain
By Rich Acritelli
Yogi Berra may have grown up playing baseball in Missouri, but when he was a catcher for the Yankees he was Mr. New York.
Yogi Berra was an iconic major league baseball catcher for the New York Yankees. Public domain
The legend died a few weeks ago at 90 years old, but he will be remembered by Long Island baseball fans for years to come.
Born in 1925, Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra grew up in the Italian section of St. Louis, the son of immigrants who worked many hours to make ends meet for their family. As a kid, Berra discovered his love for baseball and would play at every opportunity, though his equipment was not always very advanced — coming from a poor family, he used old magazines as shin guards.
The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis produced outstanding ball players such as catcher Joe Garagiola, who played against Berra. However, the legend did not get to the major league right away.
Berra’s grades were poor and education was considered a luxury during the Great Depression, so he went to work in a coal mine. But Berra was meant to play baseball — he lost his job because of his habit of leaving work early to play the game with his friends. His parents did not understand or like baseball, but their son excelled and became one of the best players from their neighborhood. In 1942, the New York Yankees brought him into their dugout.
At 17 years old, Berra was away from home for the first time. His career began slowly, and he committed 16 errors in his first season as a catcher, although his hitting was consistent. Times were tough for the young man — he made $90 a month, before taxes were deducted, and there was little leftover after covering his living expenses. There were times Berra was close to starving. At one point, his manager loaned him money to buy cheeseburgers and adoring fans made Italian heroes for him to eat. He sold men’s suits in the winters to get by.
“What you have to remember about Yogi is that all he ever wanted was to be a baseball player.”
— Jerry Coleman, hall of fame broadcaster
Soon into his career, America’s priorities changed. With World War II raging, Uncle Sam started to draft baseball players into the military. Berra joined the U.S. Navy and was in the middle of the action in Europe on one of the most important days for the Allied war effort: June 6, 1944. On D-Day, Berra was on a rocket boat that fired armaments against the German fortifications at Normandy.
That August, the catcher aided landing troops during the amphibious invasion of southern France through Operation Dragoon. After fighting on D-Day, Berra said he was scared to death during those landings, because he realized the Germans could have killed his entire crew due to their proximity to the beaches. Despite his fear, he fought valiantly and went back behind home plate with a Purple Heart.
By 1946, with the war behind him, Berra returned to the ball park. He was one of the toughest and most talented players in the league, a three-time MVP who hit 305 homeruns and earned 10 World Series rings. Don Larsen, who in the 1956 World Series threw a perfect game to Berra, believed the catcher was the best pitch caller in baseball.
Yogi Berra was an iconic major league baseball catcher for the New York Yankees. Public domain
The all-star was at the center of many historic plays, including when Jackie Robinson famously stole home during the 1955 World Series. Berra, who was catching for pitcher Whitey Ford, attempted to tag out Robinson, but the umpire deemed the runner safe — a call Berra did not agree with.
Once he hung up his catcher’s gear in the 1960s, Berra became a coach and manager for the Yankees, the Mets and later the Houston Astros, among other business ventures.
For a man who did not earn an education past the eighth-grade level, Berra accomplished much during his lifetime, included being known for his creative sayings, commonly known as “Yogi-isms,” such as his famous quotes, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” and “It’s déjà vu all over again.” He was an American and athletic icon who represented the grit and character of his unique nation.
James Hazen Hyde’s 1899 station brougham carriage. Photo by Ellen Barcel
By Ellen Barcel
Mention the Gold Coast era on Long Island, and people immediately think of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” and the great mansions built in the early 1900s. Some of those mansions are gone,victims of housing developments. Others, such as Laurelton Hall and Villa Francesca were both lost to fires. Some are in the public trust, turned into museums or schools like the Vanderbilt Mansions in Centerport and Oakdale. And a few, a very few, are still privately owned, like Oheka Castle, now a luxury hotel and event venue, and the Woolworth mansion. Of the more than 1000 mansions built, less than one third are still in existence.
To highlight the architectural wonders of Long Island’s North and South shore mansions during the “Gatsby” era, the Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages is currently presenting “Gilding the Coasts: Art and Design of Long Island’s Great Estates.”
“The subject of Long Island’s great country house era has been chronicled in numerous other exhibitions, books, and documentary films. We thought it would be interesting to focus on the design and construction aspect of the story more than the social history of the house owners and their servants, which tends to get a larger share of the attention,” said Joshua Ruff, exhibit curator and museum director of collections & interpretation.
From left, 1920s pink party dress with silk faux glass beading, gift of Timothy Smith; embroidered silk gown, 1908, gift of Mrs. B. Langdon and Mrs. William Floyd Nichols; embroidered silk velvet evening opera cape, 1912, gift of Grace Rumbough. Photo by Ellen Barcel
Some of the mansion owners are well known, while others less so. Ruff continued, “We wanted to look at both the extremely well-known figures in this story, … like Stanford White, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and William Delano, as well as those people and their houses who have not received the same level of attention, such as William de Leftwich Dodge, who designed and lived in the fascinating and unique Villa Francesca, just a couple of miles away from the museum [in Setauket].”
The exhibit includes furniture from some of the estates, beautiful antique women’s clothing, estate plans, photos, paintings, Tiffany lamps, sculpture and even the very unique weather vane from Vanderbilt’s Eagle’s Nest.
“One of the most interesting stories that I learned much more about in the development of this exhibition was that of James Hazen Hyde (1876-1959), heir to Equitable Life Insurance and owner of a spectacular house and estate in Bay Shore, a place which he inherited from his father, redesigned and named The Oaks.
Hyde was a major figure in Gilded Age society who was forced to exile in France after a scandal in 1905. In the exhibition, we have a terrific close-to-life scale portrait of him located beside a brougham carriage that he owned, as well as a painting of his estate. The paintings came to us from New York Historical Society, the carriage is ours. It was terrific to pull all of this material together,” said Ruff.
While some of the items on display belong to the museum, Ruff noted that, “We were pleased to have received very significant loans from the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, the Vanderbilt Museum, Planting Fields, the New-York Historical Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Huntington Historical Society.We also received excellent important loans from a number of private collectors, especially Daniel and Betsy White of Box Hill, Leftwich Kimbrough, the grandson of William de Leftwich Dodge, and Gold Coast historian Paul Mateyunas.”
An important feature of the exhibit is the gigantic time line which encircles the gallery. It begins in 1866 with the formation of the Southside Sportsman’s Club, which catered to the wealthy residents of the South Shore. It ends in 2015, with the sad notation that a fire badly damaged the 25,000 square foot Woolworth mansion in Glen Cove.
Noted Ruff, “Adaptive reuse has been the saving grace for many historic Long Island estates. Thankfully, people can still visit and appreciate William Cutting Bayard’s Westbrook Estate — Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Otto Kahn’s Oheka, William Coe’s Coe Hall — Planting Fields Arboretum and State Park, The Phipps Estate — Old Westbury Gardens and many more. We really hope that the exhibition encourages visitors to seek out and explore the treasures that are available to them a short drive away and to appreciate how fragile and vulnerable these estates are, and worthy of our protection.”
“It is wonderful that Box Hill still exists in an excellent state of preservation and remains in family hands after all these generations. Sadly, Laurelton Hall and Villa Francesca were both lost to fires within several years of one another,” he added.
Julie Diamond, director of communications at the museum, said a bus trip is planned in November to the Culinary Institute and the Vanderbilt Estate upstate in Hyde Park, an interesting comparison to Long Island’s Vanderbilt Estate.
Dori Portes, the museum’s receptionist for the past 17 years, said, “This is one of the three top exhibits I’ve seen,” in all that time. “It’s stunning, just beautiful!”
An illustrated exhibit program, which not only includes information on the artifacts in the exhibit but the time line as well, is available from the museum.
The exhibit is open through Sunday, Oct. 25. Don’t miss this fascinating look at historic Long Island. The LIM, a Smithsonian affiliate, is located at 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook. It is open Thursday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. For further information, call 631-751-0066 or go to www.longislandmuseum.org.
Center, Frank Turano, project manager of the Chicken hill Exhibit Committee, receives the AASLH Award of Merit. Photo from Beverly Tyler
By Beverly C. Tyler
The Three Village Historical Society received the American Association for State and Local History’s Award of Merit for the exhibit Chicken Hill: A Community Lost to Time at the AASLH’s annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 18.
The Award of Merit is presented to recognize excellence for projects ranging from civic engagement to exhibits and publications.
The Award of Merit is one of the AASLH’s Leadership in History Awards. AASLH bestows Leadership in History Awards to establish and encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation and interpretation of state and local history.
AASLH maintains the awards program to recognize good history that changes people’s lives by helping them make connections with the past. Recipients can take pride in the fact that they are recognized by their peers. Winners use the award to promote their institution in their communities and beyond, including leveraging needed funds.
Chicken Hill project manager Frank Turano and I traveled to the AASLH annual meeting to receive the award and to participate in the annual meeting. Staff members and volunteers at history museums, historical societies and related organizations from all over the United States attend the annual meeting to take part in sessions about all phases of local history and to exchange ideas, problems and successes.
The awards dinner on Friday was attended by recipients from 31 states, and the range of their efforts was detailed as each individual or group came up to receive their award. This year, AASLH conferred 61 national awards honoring people, projects, exhibits, books and organizations.
“The Leadership in History Awards is AASLH’s highest distinction and the winners represent the best in the field,” said Trina Nelson Thomas, AASLH awards chair and director, Stark Art & History Venue, Stark Foundation. “This year, we are pleased to distinguish each recipient’s commitment and innovation to the interpretation of history, as well as their leadership for the future of state and local history.”
The Three Village Historical Society Chicken Hill exhibit was designed and installed by members of the society’s Three Village Rhodes Committee, many of whom had a personal connection with the Chicken Hill area and the people who lived and worked there over the past century and a half.
The exhibit includes stories of the evolution of the Chicken Hill area and its religious, social and cultural development. It especially details family life and the passion that surrounds the Setauket baseball teams based there. One of the most dramatic parts of the exhibit is a touch screen computer station featuring interviews with former members of Chicken Hill, who relate their personal stories and recollections of the events that engaged the entire community.
The Chicken Hill exhibit, as well as the companion SPIES! exhibit, are open every Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Three Village Historical Society Headquarters, 93 North Country Road in Setauket.
Beverly Tyler is the Three Village Historical Society historian.
Dominick-Crawford Barn is now a historic landmark. Photo by Giselle Barkley
It’s history in the making.
Brookhaven’s Three Village Historical Society is continuing its quest to preserve the town’s history and educate the community after the Town of Brookhaven’s meeting on Thursday Sept. 17, at 5 p.m.
That Thursday, the town established the Three Village Society’s Ebenezer Bayles/Stephen Swezey house in Setauket and the dismantled Dominick-Crawford Barn, which will be located nearby, as historic landmarks in Setauket. The goal isn’t only to establish these buildings as historic landmarks but also classify them as a museum where residents can visit and learn about the history behind the house and the barn.
But it may take some time before the society fulfills its goal. The society had the nearly 155- to 168-year-old Dominick-Crawford Barn dismantled as part of its Crawford Barn Renovation Project.
According to John Cunniffe of Stony Brook, the architect of this project, the Village of Old Field originally wanted to take the barn down and use the land. Cunniffe said the village received the deed for the property several years ago but it didn’t do anything with the property until it decided the barn was “in their way.”
“The barn was left in a neglected state for quite some time,” Cunniffe said. “So the Historical Society found some funding to pay a contractor to carefully dismantle [the barn]. So it was that or watch the barn be demolished.”
Cunniffe also said establishing the barn as a historic landmark was not only important because of the barn’s long history but also because there is a town code requirement to classify the barn as a museum as it will rest on a residential property.
According to Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) the Society for Preservation of Long Island Antiquities used to own the property where the barn and the house will be located. They used to have an auction out of the barn that was there at the time. When SPLIA moved its headquarters from the Ebenezer Bayles/Stephen Swezey house location in Setauket to Cold Spring Harbor, it took the barn that was there at the time.
The Dominick-Crawford Barn, which was located on the east side of the junction of Old Field Road and Quaker Path in the Village of Old Field before it was dismantled, will be located to the left of the Ebenezer Bayles/Stephen Swezey House parking lot.
Thus far Englebright has helped provide $625,000 in grants to help fund the project. He also said the organization has held fundraisers with the hope of collecting additional funds to pay for the project.
While the Crawford barn was built around 1847 to 1860, the house was built in 1800. Former President of the Three Village Historical Society Steven Hintze said the house is of great importance to the community’s history.
“It was built before [the] Civil War. And many of [those houses] haven’t lasted. They haven’t made it to this point due to neglect,” Hintze said. “We were able to see [the Ebenezer Bayles/Stephen Swezey house] was starting to fall to disrepair so we started to move.”
After SPLIA moved, the Three Village Historical Society left its old headquarters for its new one in the house. The Three Village Society was originally operating out of an upstairs room in a house before purchasing the Ebenezer Bayles/Stephen Swezey house on May 14, 1998.
Cunniffe was unsure how long it may take before the organization can reassemble the barn, as the town’s decision to make it a historic landmark is one of many steps in the approval process to put the barn back together near the Three Village Society’s headquarters. Regardless, the Three Village Society wants to continue giving back with the hope that the project will allow residents to learn more about the history of the house and the barn. It’s a desire that Englebright supports.
“They are doing a great job and as long as I can possibly support them, I’m going to continue to do so,” Englebright said. “They are making it possible for us to have an even stronger sense of place, and that’s at the core of what it means to be a part of a community.”
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