Oyster Bay Historical Society Calendar of Events

The Annual Holiday Party will be held on Saturday, December 8, 2007 from 4:00-6:30 p.m., beginning with a joyous holiday concert led by the Rev. Ken Nelson at the Hood AME Zion Church on the corner of South and Summit Streets at 4:00 p.m. After the concert, the holiday celebration will continue at the Earle-Wightman House Museum, which will be decorated in old-fashioned candlelit fashion. With refreshments and music setting a festive mood, you'll ring in the holidays at this annual party for Society members and friends. Contributions appreciated. For additional information, call the Museum at 922-5032.

The Society's Fall Exhibition on Oyster Bay's role in the Revolutionary War will open on Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 2:30 pm at its Earle-Wightman House Museum, one of only three Nassau County sites on the State's Revolutionary War Heritage Trail. The Exhibition includes rare artifacts and documents as well as the opportunity to try on a reproduction uniform and equipment.

The ground-breaking Exhibition will include a rare uniform coat worn by an Oyster Bay Loyalist during the war, a period musket and bayonet, an inscribed powder horn owned by another Oyster Bay Loyalist, period cannonballs, assorted documents, smaller objects, and period illustrations. This is a unique opportunity to learn the role played by Long Island Loyalists in general, and Oyster Bay and Queens County Loyalists in particular, while seeing rare artifacts and handling authentic reproductions of the items worn and carried by Revolutionary War soldiers.

Please call the Society at 922-5032 or email for more information.

NOTE: The Exhibition was originally scheduled, and announced in The Freeholder, for a November opening. A delay in obtaining signs and showcases necessitated rescheduling.

Labels: artifacts, bayonet, cannonballs, Earle-Wightman House, exhibition, Heritage Trail, Historical Society, Loyalists, Museum, musket, Oyster Bay, powder horn, Queens County, Revolutionary War, soldiers

Alexander Rose, author of the recently-published Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Oyster Bay Historical Society on Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. at the Doubleday Babcock Senior Center at 45 East Main Street, Oyster Bay.

The Culper Spy ring, which delivered vital intelligence to George Washington during the Revolution, was centered in Setauket. The family of "Culper Jr" (Robert Townsend) lived in Raynham Hall, and Major Benjamin Tallmadge of Setauket was chief of Washington's intelligence service. Hear the inner workings of this clandestine network which worked in the shadows to secure America's independence.

This is a joint meeting of the Nassau County Historical Society and the Oyster Bay Historical Society, which will have a brief business meeting at 7:00 p.m.. Guests are welcome. Refreshments will be served following the presentation and copies of Washington's Spies will be available for sale. For more information, please contact the Oyster Bay Historical Society at 516-922-5032.

The long-running Spring 20/20 Lecture Series kicks off on Tuesday March 13 at 7:15 p.m. with Michelle Temares speaking on The Untold Story: WWI and WWII Poster Art at the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library, 89 East Main Street, in Oyster Bay.

A member of the Society of Illustrators and the National Art League, Michelle Temares teaches and lectures on fine art at the Planting Fields Arboretum, at the Society of Decorative Painters, and at her own Bella Michelle Studios in Garden City, New York. The author of Painting Floral Botanicals and How to Design Your Own Painting Projects and over 40 illustrated articles, she has been called "a favorite author" by the The New York Times, an "engrossing speaker" by F & W Publications, and a "renowned artist" by the Decorative Artist's Book Club.

The Annual Holiday Party will be held on Saturday, December 9, 2006 from 4:00-6:30 p.m., beginning with a joyous holiday concert led by the Rev. Ken Nelson at the Hood AME Zion Church on the corner of South and Summit Streets at 4:00 p.m. After the concert, the holiday celebration will continue at the Earle-Wightman House, which will be decorated in old-fashioned candlelit fashion. With refreshments and music setting a festive mood, you'll ring in the holidays at this annual party for Society members and friends. Contributions appreciated. For additional information, call the Museum at 922-5032.

The Oyster Bay Historical Society's new Exhibition Irreplaceable Artifacts, featuring significant artifacts from the Society's collections, launches Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. with a lecture on the Art of Collecting by John Loring, Tiffany & Co.'s longtime Director of Design. Mr. Loring, who was New York bureau chief for the Architectural Digest before joining Tiffany's in 1979, is the author of more than a dozen books about Tiffany, the man, the store and its style, including Tiffany Jewels, Tiffany Diamonds, Louis Comfort Tiffany at Tiffany & Co., Tiffany Timepieces, Tiffany Flora & Fauna, Tiffany in Fashion, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, Tiffany Pearls, and Tiffany's 20th Century.

Mr. Loring's lecture, at the Oyster Bay Community Center on Church Street, will be followed by a champagne and hors d'oeuvres Reception at the Society's Earle-Wightman House Museum headquarters. The Reception is $25; $20 for members. Proceeds will benefit the Building Fund for the Society's much-needed library and collection storage facility. Space is limited. Please call the Society at 516-922-5032 to request your invitation.

Click on the filmstrip below for a slideshow preview of the Irreplaceable Artifacts Exhibit.

In a colorful prelude to the Society's forthcoming Fall Exhibit, Irreplaceable Artifacts, historians Raymond and Judith Spinzia, will lecture on Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. at the Oyster Bay Community Center on Church Street. Popular for their unabashedly gossipy style, the Spinzias will serve up anecdotes about famous Gold Coast residents uncovered as they researched their new, two volume book, Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes. The Spinzias, who are preparing a third edition of their classic reference work, Long Island: A Guide to New York's Suffolk and Nassau Counties, have been featured in Newsday, The New York Times, and other newspapers, as well as on local TV and radio, including WQZR. Their lecture will be followed by a champagne reception at the Society's Earle Wightman House headquarters. Admission is free and open to all. For more information, call the Society at 516-922-5032.

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