Although no battles were fought on Long Island, the Civil War deeply affected all of its residents. More than three thousand men--white and black--from current-day Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties answered the call to preserve the Union. While Confederate ships lurked within eight miles of Montauk Point, camps in Mineola and Willets Point trained regiments. Local women raised thousands of dollars for Union hospitals, and Long Island companies manufactured uniforms, drums and medicines for the army. At the same time, a little-remembered draft riot occurred in Jamaica in 1863. Local authors Harrison Hunt and Bill Bleyer explore this fascinating story, from the 1860 presidential campaign that polarized the region to the wartime experiences of Long Islanders on the battlefield and at home.

Although no battles were fought on Long Island, the Civil War deeply affected all of its residents. More than three thousand men-white and black-from current-day Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties answered the call to preserve the Union. While Confederate ships lurked within eight miles of Montauk Point, camps in Mincola and Willets Point trained regiments. Local women raised thousands of dollars for Union hospitals, and Long Island companies manufactured uniforms, drums and medicines for the army. At the same time, a little-remembered draft riot occurred in Jamaica in 18G3. Local authors Harrison Hunt and Bill Bleyer explore this fascinating story, from the 1860 presidential campaign that polarized the region to the wartime experiences of Long Islanders on the battlefield and at home. Book jacket.

In A Farm Family on Long Island's North Fork, Richard A. Wines traces the history of a vital agricultural community on the North Fork of Long Island through the story of the last family to live in the old Homestead at the Hallockville Museum Farm. For well over two centuries, community members were almost all descendants of the same group of seventeenth-century Puritan founders. Yet, despite their shared heritage and complex interrelationships, cultural wars raged. Family members and the community divided bitterly on issue after issue, ranging from whether to allow a melodeon into the church to supporting abolitionism. The community weathered many changes—the Civil War, the emergence of new agricultural technologies, the arrival of Eastern European immigrants, even an attempt to build a string of nuclear power plants in the twentieth century. Wines's deep dives into one community's history uncover stories about slavery, racism, and prejudice that many have chosen to forget, as well as stories of compassion or human tragedy we want to remember. A Farm Family on Long Island's North Fork will appeal to those interested in Long Island regional history and the larger history of rural communities throughout New York and the United States.

No house better reflects the personality and interests of its owner than Theodore Roosevelt's cherished Sagamore Hill. After Roosevelt returned to Oyster Bay following the death of both his beloved wife and mother, he and his second wife, Edith, made the house a home for their growing and rambunctious family. What began as the perfect getaway from unhealthy New York City summers in his grandfather's day became the Summer White House during Roosevelt's presidency. He hosted political guests like Henry Cabot Lodge and cultural luminaries like novelist Edith Wharton. Roosevelt spent his final years happily at Sagamore Hill, and after his death in 1919, the Theodore Roosevelt Association and the National Park Service preserved the house. With previously unpublished photographs and a detailed guide to the house and grounds, historian Bill Bleyer recounts bygone days at Roosevelt's haven.

Covers the period from the days of the original Indian inhabitants up to the year 1924.

Shocking revelations of a wife’s adultery explode in an incendiary nineteenth-century trial, exposing upper-crust New York society and its secrets. What could possibly go wrong in a wealthy matriarch’s country home when her dilettante son, his restless wife, and his widowed brother live there together? Strong Passions, rooted in the beguiling times of Edith Wharton’s “old New York,” recounts the true story of a tumultuous marriage. In 1862, Mary Strong stunned her husband, Peter, by confessing to a two-year affair with his brother. Peter sued Mary for divorce for adultery—the only grounds in New York—but not before she accused him of forcing her into an abortion and having his own affair with the abortionist. She then kidnapped their young daughter and disappeared. The divorce trial Strong v. Strong riveted the nation during the final throes and aftermath of the Civil War, offering a shocking glimpse into the private world of New York’s powerful and privileged elite. Barbara Weisberg presents the chaotic courtroom and panoply of witnesses—governess, housekeeper, private detective, sisters-in-law, and many others—who provided contradictory and often salacious testimony. She then asks us to be the jury, deciding each spouse’s guilt and the possibility of a just resolution. Social history at its most intimate, Strong Passions charts a trial’s twists and turns to portray a family and country in turmoil as they faced conflicts over women’s changing roles, male custody of children, and men’s power—financial and otherwise—over wives.

The first Masonic lodge in what is today Nassau and Suffolk Counties was constituted in 1793. For over 200 years, more than 70 lodges were founded and flourished in various locations from Amagansett to Great Neck. For the first time, some of the secrets of the Masonic fraternity are revealed in this book. Recovered from dusty lodge attics and closets, this selection of long-forgotten photographs and artifacts gives the readers a brief glimpse of what was taking place behind the closed doors of their local lodge. Long Island was the Masonic home of Theodore Roosevelt of Oyster Bay and, 30 years later, was honored by a visit to the Huntington Masonic lodge by his fifth cousin and fellow Mason Franklin D. Roosevelt. Masons continue to support the community through charitable endeavors, including the Masonic Medical Research Institute, Masonic Safety Identification Programs, Shriners Hospitals, and many more.