The 19th century Red Barn was originally constructed as a grain market near the Orient wharf but served many different functions including acting as a seine house for repairing and storing fishing nets. These uses reflect its farming, fishing, and business roots. OHS purchased The Red Barn in 1966 and moved it 750 feet to its current location on the OHS campus.
In 2024, thanks to the hard work and vision of Honorary Trustee John Holzapfel and his wife Joyce, it debuted as a revitalized and repurposed exhibition space, home to “The Red Barn Collection,” a permanent multi-media exhibition comprised of pictures, tools, equipment, and artifacts of North Fork farming and fishing as well as winter activities and early transportation. The objects on display are intended to evoke images of life in the Oysterponds community as the 19th century transitioned to the 20th.
Oysterponds Historical Society would like to acknowledge that, without the generous donations of noteworthy artifacts contributed over the years by many local families, the Red Barn Collection would not exist.
Below are some of the images on display in the exhibition.
