Museum is next chapter in history of cottage linked to spy ring, George Washington
Officials and historians plan to turn Drowned Meadow Cottage in Port Jefferson into a year-round museum for tours, school field trips and research. The house has links to the spy ring that helped George Washington track British troop movements during the Revolutionary War. Credit: John Roca
A Port Jefferson house with ties to the spy ring that helped George Washington track British troop movements during the Revolutionary War will be reopened next month as a full-time museum, officials have announced.
Drowned Meadow Cottage, the 18th-century home of Culper spy ring member Phillips Roe, will open its doors to the public during ceremonies on June 5 that will include a ribbon cutting, interactive exhibits and a reenactment of a notorious 1781 incident in which Connecticut privateers plundered the house.
Village officials and local historians say the cottage will host exhibits depicting life in Port Jefferson during the Colonial era — when the area was known as Drowned Meadow — while officials continue efforts to qualify the house as an official museum.
Port Jefferson village historian Chris Ryon (clockwise from left); Culper spy ring historian Mark Sternberg; village clerk Barbara Sakovich; curator and historian Georgette Grier-Key; educator Tara Penske; and Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant are the members of the Drowned Meadow Cottage museum committee. They recently met to hold a planning meeting for the cottage's June 5th opening ceremony. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
“We have big plans and we’re gearing up and we're really excited for that. It’s been a long time coming,” Georgette Grier-Key, a historian and consultant on the project, told Newsday. “It’s local history that also connects to the national history and even the international history.”
The cottage was built in 1755 and moved twice before settling in its current location at Barnum Avenue and West Broadway. It has been closed for more than two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, it served as a part-time repository of local history exhibits while also being used for special events such as Santa’s Workshop during Port Jefferson’s annual Dickens Festival.
Grier-Key said the cottage will be open year-round for tours, research and school field trips.
The house’s claim to history was enhanced seven years ago when historians found a 1780 letter by a British spy accusing Phillips Roe and his brother, Nathaniel, of collaborating with Setauket rebel leader Caleb Brewster.
That and ongoing efforts to host community events and bring local history to schools should help win official museum recognition from state officials, said Mayor Margot Garant.
“I think we’ve done our homework and the time is right,” she said.
Plans for the reopening ceremonies still are being discussed, officials said, but they expect a highlight will be reenactments of historical events related to the house, including the time on May 29, 1781, when privateers — please don’t call them pirates, officials said — plundered the house.
The Drowned Meadow Cottage was built in 1755 and moved twice before settling in its current location at Barnum Avenue and West Broadway in Port Jefferson. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
For children, there will be a story hour presenting history in simpler terms.
“When you have young children involved, they have a stake in that history,” said Tara Penske, a volunteer educator involved in the planning.
In addition to celebrating local history, the museum will be part of ceremonies when the United States commemorates its 250th birthday in 2026, Grier-Key said.
The cottage symbolizes the resolve of local residents whose community was occupied by the British through much of the revolution and who banded together to help win the nation’s independence, Grier-Key said.
“We don’t know what the outcome would have been, if it would have been the outcome that we had,” she said. “These are people who were ordinary people who came together to do something absolutely extraordinary.”
LETTERS & SPIES
Local historians say several key pieces of evidence have been found in recent years that connect Port Jefferson’s Drowned Meadow Cottage to the Culper spy ring. The clandestine network, depicted in a highly fictionalized dramatization in the AMC series “Turn,” used letters written in invisible ink and other methods to inform Gen. George Washington of British troop activities:
2015: Researchers discover a Dec. 21, 1780, letter in the archives of a Michigan museum from a suspected British spy accusing Drowned Meadow residents Nathaniel and Phillips Roe of helping spy ring member Caleb Brewster of Setauket.
2021: Letters related to the Culper spy ring are found in the cottage’s chimney. The cottage had been the home of Phillips Roe during the Revolutionary War.
SOURCES: Port Jefferson Village, news files
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep.16: From Island to island, how football helped overcome tragedy Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks to Carey football player James McGrath about how he has persevered after losing his parents at a young age, and to the Lahainaluna (Hawaii) High School football coach about how his team persevered after the Maui wildfires of 2023, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the All-Long Island teams photo shoot.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep.16: From Island to island, how football helped overcome tragedy Newsday's Gregg Sarra talks to Carey football player James McGrath about how he has persevered after losing his parents at a young age, and to the Lahainaluna (Hawaii) High School football coach about how his team persevered after the Maui wildfires of 2023, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the All-Long Island teams photo shoot.
