The Island Sights

THE EAST END has several historic sites, including preserved homes and exhibit halls that make history something that fills the senses and the imagination. Many opening times are adjusted according to the season. Readers should call ahead when possible.

Ambrose Parsons House, Springs-Fireplace Road and Old Stone Highway, Springs. Originally built in late 1700s by Ambrose Parsons and rebuilt in 1851. It is used as the Springs Public Library, maintained by the Springs Historical Society.

Miss Amelia Cottage Museum, Montauk Highway at Windmill Lane, Amagansett, 516-267-3020. Operated by Amagansett Historical Association. The 1725 cottage houses changing exhibits of Amagansett life from colonial times to early 20th Century. Furnished with local Dominy furniture including clocks and 18thand 19th-Century household artifacts and tools. Also at the site is The Roy K. Lester Carriage Museum and Jackson Carriage Barn featuring 28 horse-drawn vehicles. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday June 27-Sept. 7. Fee: $2, $1 under 12.

The Big Duck, Route 24, Flanders Rd., Southampton, 516-852-8292. The Big Duck is a 10-ton 20-foot-tall concrete and plaster construction built in 1931 as a farmstand for the old Bruno Duck Farm in Upper Mill section of Riverhead. It was acquired by Suffolk County and Friends of Long Island Hrtiage and moved to its present site in 1988. It houses a museum shop that sells all types of duck-related items. Call for hours and events.

Bridgehampton Historical Society, Montauk Highway and Corwith Avenue, in Bridgehampton, 516-537-1088. Rooms in the Corwith House (early 1800s) represent different periods; nearby are two barns housing turn-of-the-century steam engines and a building with a wheelwright-blacksmith shop (late 1880s); occasional blacksmith demonstrations. Also in the complex is a 2-room 1902 jailhouse. Open Noon-4 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, June-September. Open Monday-Friday year-round by appointment only. Fee: donation adults.

The Custom House, Main and Garden Streets, Sag Harbor, 516-692-4664. In 1790, Sag Harbor became the nation's first U.S. port of entry. The museum is in the 18th-Century home of the port's first U.S. customs master. Exhibits, family activities, maritime history. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday July-August, same hours weekends June, September, October. Fee: $3, $1.50 ages 7-14 and over 60.

Cutchogue Green Historic Buildings, Main Road, Cutchogue, 516-734-7122, summer 516-734-6977. Best known in this grouping is The Old House, on Cases Lane at the Village Green. The house, a National Historic Landmark, dates to 1640 and claims to be the oldest English-type frame house in New York State (disputed by backers of Southampton's Old Halsey House; see below). The Old House was built in Southold and moved to Cutchogue in 1649. The complex includes the 1740 Wickham House, one of the oldest North Fork farmhouses, with a collection of antique quilts. The 1840 Schoolhouse Museum displays donated antique items. Nearby is the former Independent Congregational Church, built in 1862, now the children's portion of the Cutchogue-New Suffolk library. A pre-Civil War carriage house moved to the Green displays a model of the first submarine brought to New Suffolk for testing (the Navy tested subs here from 1899 to 1905). Open 1-4 p.m. Saturday-Monday July-August, 1-4 p.m. weekends June and September plus Sept. 7. Fee: $1.50, 50 cents under 12.

East Hampton Historical Society Museums, 101 Main St., East Hampton, 516-324-6850. Mulford Farm, 10 James Lane, East Hampton, a four-acre farmstead dating to the 17th Century, with a nearby 18th-Century English-style barn. Clinton Academy, 151 Main St., East Hampton, the state's first chartered academy (circa 1784), offers displays of decorative arts. Town House, next door, is a one-room 18th-Century schoolhouse. The East Hampton Town Marine Museum, Bluff Road, Amagansett, has exhibits on whaling and the marine environment. The Boat Shop, 42 Gann Rd., East Hampton, has classes in wooden boatbuilding. Historic district walking tours weekends. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekends June, Sept. 1-Oct. 12, daily July-August. for Marine Museum and Mulford Farm; 1-3 p.m. July-August for Clinton Academy and Town House then by appointment. Fees: $4 adult, $2 children and seniors.

Havens House, Route 114, mid-island just south of Smith Street, 516-749-0025. Maintained by the Shelter Island Historical Society. The former home of patriot James Havens, one of eight Suffolk men elected to the Provincial Congress. The house, on the National Register of Historic Places, dates to 1743 but has mid-19th-Century additions with furnishings from the 18th and 19th Centuries. The barn has farming and fishing artifacts. Open 12:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday-Sunday and holidays mid-June through mid-September; other times by appointment. Fee: donation.

Home Sweet Home, 14 James Lane, East Hampton, 516-324-0713. This saltbox house (circa 1680), on the National Register of Historic Places, was the boyhood home of John Howard Payne, who wrote the words to Home Sweet Home. Displays oldest documented piece of American furniture in the country (1640), other early furniture, lusterware, other ceramics. Guided tours. Pantigo windmill (1804) on property. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 2-4 p.m. Sunday May-December; closed major holidays. Windmill open by appointment. Fee: $4, ages 4-10, $2.

Old Halsey House, 189 S. Main St., Southampton, 516-283-2494. Maintained by the Southampton Colonial Society and Historical Museum. Built on this site by Thomas Halsey, the homestead is said to date to 1648, which would make it a year older than The Old House at the Village Green in Cutchogue (see Cutchogue Green Historic Buildings) and the oldest English frame house in New York State. The Halsey date is disputed by folks at The Old House, which also claims the title. The Halsey house is certainly the oldest on its original site (Cutchogue's entry was moved in 1660); 17th- and 18th-Century furniture and other items, including a rare Breeches Bible. The house will be closed for renovations during the summer of 1999.

Old Schoolhouse Museum, 90 Quogue St., Quogue, 516-653-4111. Run by Quogue Historical Society, this 1822 schoolhouse contains memorabilia of Quogue, including photos, toys, farm equipment and early utensils. Open Wednesday and Friday, 3-5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon, July and August.

Oysterponds Historical Society Museum, Village Lane, Orient, 516-323-2480. Village House was a 19th-Century boardinghouse and is furnished as such. Hallock Building holds maritime artifacts, paintings and agricultural tools. Old Point Schoolhouse offers changing exhibits. Webb House, an 18th-Century inn moved here from Stirling, has period art and furniture. Elsewhere on the grounds: another one-room schoolhouse, a barn and the dormitory-cookhouse of Hallock Farm, a leader in the early scientific farming movement. Open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 2-5 p.m. until the end of September. Fees: $3 adults, 50 cents under age 16.

Pharaoh Indian Museum, Montauk County Park, Montauk, 516-852-7878. Houses prehistoric Indian artifacts that were recovered from the park on an archaeological dig. Planned opening in Spring, 1998; open by appointment only until then. No fee.

Railroad Museum of Long Island, 440 Fourth St., Greenport, at the railroad tracks, 516-477-0439 and Riverhead RR Station, 516-727-7920. In a historic 1890 Greenport freight station, the museum contains exhibits and artifacts including a Reading RR track car plus a 1907 snowplow on grounds, 1925 LIRR wooden caboose. The Riverhead location features railroad equipment including a LIRR steam engine, a unique all-aluminum double-deck passenger car, 2 baggage cars, a restored 1963 LIRR caboose and a railway post office car. Open Noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday May 29-Dec. 6 at Greenport; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays year-round at Riverhead, weather permitting. Fee: $1 donation.

Sag Habor Fire Department Museum, Sage and Church Streets, Sag Harbor, 516-725-0779. Created in 1803, the Sag Harbor Fire Department is the oldest volunteer department in the state. The 1833 building housing the museum was village hall and fire department headquarters in 1896. The village hall moved, but the fire company stayed until 1976. On display: equipment dating to the 19th Century and a mural depicting major early fires here; videos. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. every day from July 4 to Sept. 6, then weekends through late September; other times by appointment. Fee: $1; 50 cents ages 10-14.

Sag Harbor Whaling Museum, Main and Garden Streets, Sag Harbor, 516-725-0770. Museum is housed in a striking Greek Revival structure. Enter through jawbones of a whale, which sets the tone for memorabilia that fill the first floor. Included are paintings, log entries, scrimshaw, harpoons and other items associated with the industry that once made Sag Harbor one of the world's foremost whaling ports. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, mid-May-September. Fee: $3, $1 ages 6-13, $2 over 60.

Second House, Montauk Highway, Montauk, 516-668-5340. This 1746 farmhouse, the second house built in Montauk (the first was destroyed years ago), was used by early herders; five rooms decorated by Victorian Magazine. Plus an herb and rose garden. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday June and October; same hours Thursday-Tuesday July-September. Fee: $2, $1 under 12.

Southampton Historical Museum, 17 Meetinghouse Lane, Southampton, 516-283-2494. The central building is an 1843 sea captain's home, with widow's walk and features Montauk and Shinnecock Indian artifacts as well as changing exhibits. Other buildings include a one-room schoolhouse, a pre-Revolution barn, carriage house, blacksmith and carpentry shops, apothecary store, country store and saloon. Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday mid-June-mid-September. Fee: $3, $1 under 13.

Historic Museums of Southold, Main Road (Route 25) and Maple Lane, Southold, 516-765-5500. Operated by the Southold Historical Society. The Ann Currie-Bell Home has period rooms with antique dolls and toys, plus costume collections. Nearby are the restored pre-1653 Thomas Moore House, with furnishings from 1640-1840; a mid-19th-Century carriage house and blacksmith shop, and an 18th-Century barn, boxwood garden and buttery. The Old Bayview School (1821) has been restored to its 1914 appearance. The 1874 Prince Building has records dating to the 17th Century. All open, except for the Prince Building, from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday July-mid-September. Prince Building 9 a.m.-noon weekdays, year-round. Other times by appointment. Fee: Donation.

Southold Indian Museum, 1080 Main Bayview Rd., Southold, 516-765-5577. Collection of artifacts from earliest L.I. inhabitants 10,000 years ago to contemporaries. Included is the handiwork of Eskimos, middle and far-western Indians and native tribes of Central and South America. Offers monthly lectures on archaeology and L.I. history. Open 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday year-round, plus Saturday July-Aug. Fee: $2 donation, 50 cents under 13.

Stirling Historical Society, Main and Adams Streets, Greenport, 516-477-0099. Exhibits on whaling and oyster industries with displays of tools, equipment, whale-oil lamps. Other 19th-Century and later items include furniture and memorabilia from Lipton Cup sailing races. Open 1-4 p.m. weekends July 4-Sept. 1. Fee: Donations welcome.

Third House, Montauk County Park, Montauk, 516-852-7878. Run by Suffolk County Parks Department. The third house built in Montauk (1747), it also was used by herders. It doesn't resemble the original because it was rebuilt in the 1800s and became a restaurant in the 1950s. The house was used by Teddy Roosevelt while his troops recuperated after the Spanish-American War in 1898. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday until Labor Day, then weekends to Oct. 31; other times by appointment. No fee.

Josiah Tuthill House, 115 Mill Road, Westhampton Beach, 516-288-1139. Run by Westhampton Beach Historical Society and used as headquarters. The house's (circa 1840) three exhibit rooms feature an overview of life in the area from the 1700's-1850 plus one room furnished in 1840s style. On display are standing spinning wheels, photos and a peanut roasting machine, early 1900s, used at the local general store. Offers lectures and programs. There will be an exhibit next summer on the Hurricane of 1938. Open 2-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday June-Sept. 7; by appointment other times. Fee: Donation.