Past Exhibitions

Oysterponds in Wartime

The Oysterponds Historical Society has a wealth of material relating to war and how, over three centuries, various wars affected the two communities of East Marion and Orient. This gallery focuses on six wars: the Revolutionary War (when the British occupied this part of Long Island); theWar of 1812 (when the British blockaded Long Island Sound and Gardiner’s Bay); the CivilWar (when numerous young men from Oysterponds defended the Union); the Spanish-American War (when Fort Terry on Plum Island was built as a defense against possible attack by the Spanish); World War I (when many local boys fought in the European theater); and World War II (when the men and woman of Oysterponds were deployed around the world).

Exhibit Items

The current exhibition is a collaboration with the HallockvilleMuseum Farm’s 2014 commemoration of the Battle of the Eagle, an incident of theWar of 1812 that took place on the shores of Long Island Sound over three days in 1814.
Last summer OHS had on view most of our War of 1812 material, and in this exhibition several of our most significant documents relating to that war are again presented.

As with every historical society, documents that relate specifically to this place are the heart of our holdings. It is in the diaries and reminiscences such as those of Augustus Griffin (Revolutionary War), John Henry Young (Civil War), and William Beebe (World War I) as well as in letters that the voices of the different eras speak directly to us.

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