Oyster Bay History

In a benevolent twist on Robert Frost's immortal line, Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay is finding that "Good neighbors make good fences."

In a recent rendezvous for restoration, Raynham Hall Trustee and local architectural historian John Collins met with Bayville Mayor Victoria Siegel at the Bayville Preserve to select locust saplings, which will be harvested to reconstruct the Museum's picket fence and entrance gate.

Designed by Mr. Collins, the replica fence will be handcrafted following 18th century examples. Read more here...

You know Oyster Bay is famous for oysters and Theodore Roosevelt. But do you know that Raynham Hall, the family seat of the Townsends, Oyster Bay's "first family", is also the home of the first Valentine?

It seems Sarah "Sally" Townsend, sister of the Revolutionary War spy, Robert Townsend -- Culper Jr. of the Culper Spy Ring -- was a mighty popular young lady. One officer, who signed himself James McGill, showed his appreciation by etching "The adorable Miss Sally Townsend" into a handy window pane! Another, Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe of the Queens Rangers, while quartered at the Townsend family home, sent Sally the first documented American Valentine on February 14, 1779.

You can read the Valentine on the Raynham Hall Museum website. Or better yet, see it and the etched glass tributes for yourself by visiting the Museum in person.

The unveiling in October 2005 of the TR Statue in Oyster Bay overshadowed another historic event on the same day -- the dedication of the 1889 Oyster Bay railroad station as a National Historic Place. The station, which Teddy Roosevelt frequented, is being restored as the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum. Interior partitions from the 1960s have been removed, bricks and trim restored, and a new roof installed. Joining forces to shape the Oyster Bay Rail Road Museum are the Town of Oyster Bay, the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), the Oyster Bay Historical Society (OBHS), the Friends of Locomotive #35, and the Station Restoration Committee.

This historic station house which saw Theodore Roosevelt off and welcomed him back countless times will now be leased to the Town of Oyster Bay with Locomotive #35 here in the yard.... Rolling stock such as cabooses and passenger cars will also be on display; and informational exhibits will be housed in this old train station, which should make Oyster Bay an even more popular destination for train and history buffs in the near future.

The LIRR turned the historic station over to the museum last February, but it still needs funding. A good starting point to learning more about the station, its turntable (only one of two left on Long Island), and steam locomotive #35, is Trains are Fun's page of photos, links and information. Dave Morrison, chair of the Station Restoration Committe, offers several albums of historic and restoration photos.

To celebrate the centennial of Rotary -- the international club known for community service -- the Rotary Club of Oyster Bay initiated a truly grand project, commissioning a twelve foot tall statue of Theodore Roosevelt on horseback in Rough Rider uniform. Cast from an original mold created in 1921 by renowned sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor, the statue now graces the entrance to Oyster Bay Hamlet. It took two years, $300,000, and a lot of helping hands to bring T.R. home.

Dagmar Fors Karppi outlines the story in the Oyster Bay Enterprise Pilot. Thomas A. Kuehhas celebrates it in a commemorative journal available from the Oyster Bay Historical Society bookstore.

The BBC recently sent a video crew to Oyster Bay to follow the trail of one of the founding families of America - the Townsends. In this case they were following Viscount Raynham, from Norfolk, England, the branch of the Townshend family that spells their name with an "h." Charles Raynham was returning to Oyster Bay after five years, to attend the annual meeting of the Townsend Society of America and to thank his cousins for helping raise $80,000 to restore the bells of St. Mary's Church on his family estate, Raynham Hall. The money was donated by Townsends in Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Read the story in the Oyster Bay Enterprise Pilot.