Oyster Bay recreates Colonial village as part of 250th anniversary

The faint smell of burning wood wafted through the air in Oyster Bay Saturday morning as Diane Goldstein Fish hung pots of stew over an open fire. On a nearby table, sugar was wrapped in dyed paper alongside hand-painted bowls.

The cooking display was part of the Oyster Bay Historical Society's historic Colonial village outside the Earle-Wightman House, where the nonprofit gave attendees a glimpse of what life would have been like on the North Shore in the 18th century. It's part of a series of events and programs celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"What we're trying to incorporate is what Oyster Bay may have looked like back in that era," said Denice Evans-Sheppard, the historical society's executive director. "We will give people an understanding of the different trades or the skill sets of that time period."

Fish, who has studied centuries-old recipes, gave a sampling of baked items like sugar cakes and gingerbread cakes while showing the ingredients and cookware women would have used at the time.

With her nearby fire, Fish explained that while most of the cooking would have taken place inside, there were some considerations hundreds of years ago that we don't often think about today.

"If it's 90 degrees, you don't want to heat your whole house up," Fish said.

Danielle Little and her son, Ryan Little, are living historians who hosted a table at the Colonial village showcasing how embroidery — now considered a leisure activity — was a burgeoning industry and a way to produce luxury goods.

"If you practiced early on, you were able to embroider different things," Danielle Little said. "Tablecloths, other linens, their clothing."

During the 18th century, there was "a desire for luxury goods, if you had the money for it," Ryan Little said.

The skills of the period included crocheting, which fiber artist Alicia Evans said was practiced by enslaved Black people who passed down their talents from one generation to the next. 

"When the slaves came over here, they were already weaving, they were knotting, they were doing things similar to it — it wasn't called crochet," Evans said. "But then we get here, there's work to be done. Especially in the colder areas when we needed extra garments, we needed to crochet."

Crocheting became a source of wealth for Black families, Evans said, but had an even more vital role. 

"Up here in New York, we're freezing," she said. "We're talking about survival."

The real-life exhibit highlighted Oyster Bay's role during the American Revolution, including its post as a loyalist haven. George Washington's Culper Spy Ring existed in the shadow of that British rule. 

David M. Griffin, a historian and author, presented research related to the Oyster Bay Historical Society's Revolutionary-era red coat and explained how the garment was highly likely to have belonged to Penn Weeks, who was part of a cavalry militia.

The Earle-Wightman House, built in 1720, is part of Suffolk County's 250th Commemorative Planning Committee's guidebook of historic sites and exhibitions. Each site provides visitors with a stamp commemorating Long Island's Revolutionary history.