The Drafting of a Radical Idea – The Declaration of Independence  

Monday, July 18th, 2022 - 7pm

When the “shot heard round the world” occurred in April of 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical. However, over the course of the next year as Britain attempted to crush the colonists’ rebellion and the arguments of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” were read by many, the cry for independence would grow.  By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in the summer of 1776, the Continental Congress would declare that independence was “necessary.” Together, we will explore how this 18th century document would become a significant landmark in the history of democracy, exerting influence not only over the United States, but globally.

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

"A Revolution of Her Own!" Deborah Sampson Immersive Living History, Presented by Tri-Spy Tours

Monday, February 21st, 2022 - 7pm

Presented by Tri-Spy Tours

Deborah Sampson, the first woman

to fight in and be honorably dis-
charged from the American

Military, captivates audiences in an
immersive living history program
chronicling her life. An indentured
servant by age five, Deborah grew up
in a man’s world, where women were
naught but second-class citizens.

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As a self-educated master-less
woman, she felt a higher calling,
and in the final years of the American
Revolution, Deborah bound her
chest, tied back her hair, and enlisted
in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment
of the Continental Army, as “Robert
Shurtlieff.” The American Heroine
takes you back in time!

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

A School with a Vision: Celebrating 100 Years of The Stony Brook School

Monday, May 23rd, 2022 - 7pm

A century ago, a vision was cast by an intrepid group of clergymen to open a school. It was not to be merely another school modeled on its older New England peers, but rather one that would shift the paradigm in educational thought in reclaiming a formative purpose. The Stony Brook School was founded in response to what had become the hollowed condition of contemporary education. It prioritized the neglected matter of the education of the heart through the emphasis of integrating Christian faith in forming an individual’s character. Despite its humble beginnings and periods of hardship, its steadfastness to its distinctive vision set the School apart. The Stony Brook School has stood the test of time in its faithfulness to its founding core and in its far-reaching impact of producing generations of global citizens of character.

In honor of its centennial celebrations, David Hickey, a history faculty member and the school historian, will deliver a presentation on the School’s history and its unique mission in education. Join us in gaining new insight into one of the storied institutions of the Stony Brook community! 

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

Join us in-person at The Setauket Neighborhood House,

95 Main Street, Setauket, NY

Mafia Spies: The Inside Story of the CIA, Gangster, JFK and Castro

Monday, October 17th, 2022 - 7pm

From bestselling author and the producer of the hit cable series Masters of Sex, Thomas Maier, comes a true story of espionage and mobsters, based on the never-before-released JFK Files.

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​Mafia Spies revolves around the outlaw friendship of these two mob buddies and their fascinating world of CIA spies, fellow Mafioso in Chicago, Cuban exile commandos in Miami, beautiful Hollywood women, famous entertainers like Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack in Las Vegas, Castro’s own spies in Havana and his double agents hidden in Florida, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI snooping, and the Kennedy administration’s “Get Castro” obsession in Washington.

Thomas Maier is among the first to take full advantage of the National Archives’ 2017–18 release of the long-suppressed JFK files, many of which deal with the CIA’s top secret anti-Castro operation in Florida and Cuba. With several new investigative findings, Mafia Spies is a spy exposé, murder mystery, and shocking true story that recounts America’s first foray into the assassination business, a tale with profound impact for today’s Trump era. Who killed Johnny and Sam—and why wasn’t Castro assassinated despite the CIA’s many clandestine efforts?

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

History of the LIRR with a North Shore perspective

Monday, March 21st, 2022 - 7pm

Come with us as we step back in time to April 1834 and the Long Island Rail Road is formed to be one link in a long chain of railroads connecting the East Coast of America. Discover the reasoning and logic of the fourteen founders who blazed through the Long Island Pine Barrens to the road’s terminal at Greenport Harbor.

We will then focus on the Long Island Rail Road’s growth in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s to include a branch line to Wading River. Discover the road’s train stations along the North Shore of Long Island and the importance of the rail line for travel to New York City.

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Finally, let us take a few moments to consider the future of LIRR Steam Locomotive #39 that used to rest on the hill at the Long Island Carriage Museum in Stony Brook. The Railroad Museum of Long Island continues to move forward with the locomotive’s restoration to operate once again.

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

Winning Votes for Women on Long Island and the Nation

Monday, June 13th, 2022 - 7pm

Women in New York State secured the vote in 1917, and in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, extending the vote to all women in the United States. National suffrage leaders came to Long Island and several Long Islanders made a mark on the national scene. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Harriot Stanton Blatch, and Rosalie Gardiner Jones are among the better-known local suffragists, but countless woman campaigned for suffrage. “General” Rosalie Jones won her fame when she led hikes from New York City to Albany and Washington, DC in 1912 and 1913. New York’s “I Voted” sticker in 2017 had a picture of Rosalie Jones.

The speaker is Natalie Naylor, past president of the Nassau County Historical Society, editor of its annual Journal, and a retired professor from Hofstra University.

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

William Sidney Mount’s Long Island and the People of Color

Monday, November 14th, 2022 - 7pm

Katherine Kirkpatrick and Vivian Nicholson-Mueller will talk about the research in their new book, William Sidney Mount’s Long Island and the People of Color (the History Press, September 2022).

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Artist William Sidney Mount’s paintings depict a lost world on the north shore of Long Island, New York of farmers cutting hay with scythes and dancing to fiddle music on barn floors. Especially intriguing in these mid-1800s works are the people of color, whom Mount presented with great humanity when racist caricatures were the norm. This landmark book reveals the lives of the agricultural laborers, domestic workers, and musicians who posed for the artist. Authors Katherine Kirkpatrick and Vivian Nicholson-Mueller take readers on a fascinating and informative journey to the past as they publicly honor, by name, the once-anonymous Black and mixed-race models whose images have achieved international recognition.

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Vivian and Katherine first met during TVHS Culper Spy Day in 2018. Vivian was serving as a costumed interpreter in the Thompson House while Katherine and her sister were taking the tour. 

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.

A New York Experience -
A Constant Affair

Monday, April 18th, 2022 - 7pm

New York is the place where all the aspirations of the western world converge. This PowerPoint presentation, in concert with an illuminating lecture, offers a visual survey of America's greatest city. You will enjoy the artists who devoted their talents to depicting the streets, parks, bridges, skyscrapers, as well as the daily escapades of the people.

Works by Childa Hassam, Robert Henri, George Bellows, Max Weber, Joseph Stella, Reginald Marsh, Ben Shahn, Jacob Lawrence, Francis Criss, Edward Hopper, and many others. 

You will journey through New York between 1800 AND 1950………

New York struggled into modernity…….

The city passed through the epochs of progress, through periods of reflection, culminating in exciting new vistas.

See New York, America's ever vibrant cultural capital.

FREE for Members.

Suggested Donation for all others.