The North Fork Revolutionary War Trail, a collaboration between five North Fork historical organizations, will take visitors on a journey through time to see how locals lived in the 1770s. 

Hallockville Museum Farm, Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council & Museums, Southold Historical Museum, East End Seaport Museum and Oysterponds Historical Society are all participating in the trail. Each museum has an installation dedicated to the Revolutionary War era that tells stories of how local history unfolded at the time. 

Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council and Society executive director Mark MacNish said the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence provided a “perfect opportunity” for the organizations to work together this summer.

“I was putting together our exhibits on our Revolutionary War stories and I thought to myself, ‘You know, this is decent for Cutchogue. It tells the story of what happened in Cutchogue,’” Mr. MacNish said. “But there was so much more to what was going on during the Revolutionary War on all of the North Fork.”

He reached out to other organizations to see if they could coordinate exhibits so that visitors who stop in their institutions could follow a comprehensive story of the Revolutionary War throughout the North Fork. Thus, the trail was born. 

“A lot of our visitors are people who are out for the weekend or just traveling through the North Fork,” Mr. MacNish said. “They steer off the road and they see our place and that’s it. They just see our place. And this kind of makes them aware that there are more places that they can visit that are linked with the same kind of mission statement.”

Darren St. George, executive director of Southold Historical Museum, commended Mr. MacNish’s idea to put a brochure linking the exhibits together. Mr. MacNish said it had been decades since local historical organizations worked on a project like the trail. 

“Already with the celebrations of this semiquincentennial, you can see the pride that Americans have for our country,” Mr. St. George said. “By visiting these museums and learning more, you can see why that pride exists.”

Heading east, Hallockville Museum Farm is the first stop on the trail. There, visitors can learn about Reuben Brown and his wife Elinor Youngs who lived at the farm’s old Homestead. Zachariah Hallock I and his wife Hannah Youngs lived just down the street. 

Mr. Brown and Mr. Hallock signed the colony’s “form of Association” and pledged their support to the Continental Congress and resistance to British authority, as most men in Suffolk County did in 1775. 

To learn more about their stories, visit Hallockville Museum Farm at 6038 Sound Ave., Riverhead. 

As history buffs travel east, Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council and Museums is the next stop on the trail. The museum’s Old House will showcase the history of fierce loyalist Parker Wickham who proclaimed he would “not raise my hand against my king.” Mr. Wickham was eventually taken prisoner in 1777. 

To learn more about Mr. Wickham’s and Cutchogue history during the Revolutionary War, visit 27320 Route 25, Cutchogue. 

Next on the itinerary is Southold Historical Museum. Travelers will discover the secret history of the 1777 Meigs Raid at Horton Point Lighthouse where a Continental Army strike was launched from Southold shores. The full “American Revolution in Southold” exhibit can be explored at 55200 Main Road, Southold. 

East End Seaport Museum has an exhibit dedicated to how the American Revolution shaped daily life along the shores of the East End. Visitors can check out the museum’s offerings on 3rd Street in Greenport. 

Journey to the end of the North Fork to Oysterponds Historical Society to learn about the stories of ordinary people who became caught between two armies during the war. Original documents, weapons and personal belongings are on display at 1555 Village Lane, Orient. 

To learn more about the museums, visit their websites at hallockville.org/, cutchoguenewsuffolkhistory.org/blog/, southoldhistorical.org/, eastendseaport.org/ and oysterpondshistoricalsociety.org/.

The post North Fork Revolutionary War Trail takes visitors back in time appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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