History, Natural History & the Arts
The waters around Long Island were long known for their bounty. Fish and oysters sustained the indigenous population long before the coming of Europeans.
The settlers developed full-fledged oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and then hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) industries and fished striped bass, bluefish, flounder (fluke), and weakfish. [Read more…] about Long Island Baymen & Great South Bay Seafood
For those who choose two wheels, bicycles are celebrated as eco-friendly, low-barrier alternatives to the automobile. A bicycle license plate recently highlighted by the Vermont Historical Society however, reveals a time when they were subject to the same municipal oversight, state regulation, and licensing as motor vehicles.
In fact, municipal bicycle licensing and registration was widespread across Vermont, New York State, and indeed the United States, from the 1930s through the mid-1970s. [Read more…] about Two-Wheel Bureaucracy: How America Once Governed Bicycles
The story of Nathan Hale is a foundational myth of the American Revolution: an earnest but inexperienced patriot takes on the role of spy and unfortunately ends up a martyr to the cause.
Hale was identified by Major Robert Rogers, who pretended to be a fellow patriot, got him to reveal his mission over a drink before arresting him. When searched, British forces found hidden notes and military drawings. Under the laws of war, captured spies were not granted military trials or treated as prisoners of war. [Read more…] about David Maltbie: The ‘Other’ Nathan Hale
If you lived through the 1970s, you know the decade was about more than orange shag carpets, platform shoes, avocado-colored walls, oversized Detroit-made “land yachts” and spinning Saturday Night Fever or Grease on vinyl. The completion of the Long Island Expressway was followed by the 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo; the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 became the 1776 Bicentennial – the period was layered and complex.
Across Long Island, social, political, and demographic shifts fueled cultural and artistic innovation, even as new questions and vulnerabilities emerged. [Read more…] about The 1970s on Long Island Experience
The historic Jones Beach State Park East Bathhouse has been restored, revamped and is now open with modern amenities for the first time since 2009. A new way to enjoy one of New York’s most popular state parks, the restored bathhouse is a signature project of Governor Hochul’s NY SWIMS initiative – an effort to expand access to safe places to cool off and help more children learn the lifesaving skill of swimming. [Read more…] about Jones Beach State Park Rehabilitation Completed
About 1768, New York’s first paper mill was established, but throughout the 1700s New Yorkers suffered from a lack of paper, no more so than during the American Revolution. The industry grew from the need for paper and owes its early history to the rise of printing in America. [Read more…] about Small & Scarce: Early New York Paper Making History
The American Revolution was not only fought militarily in the colonies, artists also played an integral role. In The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution (Harvard University Press, 2025) Dr. Zara Anishanslin highlights the intertwined lives of three of them: Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah and Patience Wright.
Of particular interest to New Yorkers, Wright was born a Quaker (and a relative of the Townsend family) in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, on Long Island. She had a talent for sculpting and her medium was the wax figure. Her museum in the city of New York was a popular attraction, featuring lifelike replicas of notable figures. [Read more…] about Patience Wright: A Revolutionary NY Artist in England
Consider the pickle. Whether sour or sweet, sliced or speared, it’s a seasoned veteran vegetable with a story to tell. New York City plays a big part in that tale, as does Long Island.
The latest Long Island History Project podcast reaches deep into the barrel of food history and talks with Paul van Ravestein, co-author along with Monique Mulder of The Pickled City: The Story of New York Pickles (Princeton Architectural Press, 2026). [Read more…] about Food History: Long Island’s Pickle Kings
Women are almost invisible in most accounts of the American Revolution on Long Island, although they experienced more than seven years of British occupation, skirmishes, and calculated humiliations.
Before the outbreak of the war, it was women who made the boycotts against British goods effective by weaving homespun and devising substitutes for tea. [Read more…] about Long Island Women During the Revolutionary Era
Wesley Bintz was a Civil Engineer who received his training at the University of Michigan, earning a BCE in 1916 and MS in 1918. He moved on to municipal work in Flint, Michigan with two pools made of reinforced concrete, and funded by municipal bonds, which he designed as their City Engineer and completed in 1920.
Bintz subsequently accepted an Engineering position with the City of Lansing, Michigan whose citizens also desired an ovoid swimming pool, and saw their aspiration fulfilled with another a Bintz designed 80 x 120 foot pool constructed during 1922-23. Other communities saw the need for such facilities, which caused Bintz to patent his design, and specialize in his own swimming pool enterprise. Many Blintz pools were built in New York State. [Read more…] about New York Historic Pools Designed by Wesley Bintz
The latest episode of the Long Island History Project podcast is a recording of a panel discussion hosted on January 15, 2026 by the Long Island Library Resources Council.
The panelists, all notable historians who have researched the Revolutionary War period on Long Island, give their insights into what life was like in the area from 1776-1783. [Read more…] about Occupied Long Island: Voices from the American Revolution
The Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring has been the subject of numerous books and the television series, Turn!: Washington’s Spies. Using cipher, codes, and invisible ink, the Culper Spy Ring exposed the British plans to attack the Patriots’ French allies at Newport, Rhode Island, and their plot to counterfeit colonial currency. Many of the Culper Spy Ring sites can be visited today.
Bill Bleyer, former Newsday reporter, and the author of George Washington’s Long Island Spy Ring: A History and Tour Guide, (History Press, 2023) will speak in person and online on Sunday, February 1st at 2 pm. [Read more…] about Culper Spy Ring: A History and Tour Guide
Humble in appearance, one-room schoolhouses might be easy to overlook, but their existence hints at a broader social, cultural, and educational history.
Hundreds of one-room school houses were built across Long Island and many still survive, either adapted to new uses or restored and open for public access. [Read more…] about Historic Schoolhouses of Long Island
Steven Damman disappeared from outside a supermarket in East Meadow on Long Island on Halloween, 1955. He was not yet three years old. Still unsolved, the case has intrigued many over the ensuing years – none more so than Newsday journalist John Valenti.
For Nothing is Hidden, Valenti’s new novel, is the culmination of his meticulous research into the case mixed with his years of observations covering Long Island. He presents a fictional version of the disappearance, substituting the Goodson family for the Dammans, while hewing close to the facts. [Read more…] about A Long Island True Crime Story Becomes New Novel
Where history fails to provide, authors of historical fiction can fill the gap. In her new novel To Outwit Them All, author Peggy Wirgau delves into the Revolutionary War history of the Culper Spy Ring.
The ring was a network of spies active during the war, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington to provide information on British Army operations in the city of New York, the British headquarters. [Read more…] about Culper Spy #355 Brought to Life
One of the most extreme examples highlighted in the New York State Comptroller’s recent report on the increase of severe weather, was the October 29, 2012 landfall of Hurricane Sandy.
Sandy is an example of how the impacts of climate change act as “threat magnifiers,” and in the case of Sandy produce unprecedented damage to infrastructure and economic disruption. [Read more…] about The Impacts of ‘Superstorm Sandy’
From shortly after the nation’s first flight through and beyond World War II, the skies over Long Island’s Hempstead Plains buzzed with activity as the men and women of Mitchel Field faced the risks and dangers of military flight.
These were new challenges and dangerous times for military aviators in the skies and their support crews on the ground. And sometimes, the danger won. [Read more…] about Mitchel Field, Long Island Aviation History
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a Drought Watch for 20 New York counties because of a shortage of rainfall and declining levels of stream-flow and ground water. [Read more…] about Drought Watch Issued for 20 New York Counties
On July 30, NYS Environmental Conversation Officer (ECO) Perkins responded to the Bay Shore Marina in Islip, in Suffolk County on Long Island for a report of an injured osprey observed in a parking lot for hours.
Officer Perkins arrived and discovered the bird moving slowly and unable to fly. [Read more…] about Wildlife Rescuers Save Ducks, Osprey, Alligator & Rattlesnake
Chances are that your local public library has a local history librarian who oversees a rich collection of images, artifacts, and information about your community. This episode of the Long Island History Project podcast highlights and celebrates one member of this unique group – Natalie Korsavidis. She is the local history librarian at Farmingdale Public Library in Nassau (and a little bit of Suffolk) County. [Read more…] about Farmingdale Long Island’s Local History Librarian
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