History is honored and reimagined on the Cutchogue Village Green
On June 14, in celebration of Flag Day, Mark MacNish welcomed people to the old schoolhouse that sits on the Village Green in Cutchogue. It was an appropriate setting to talk about the local men and women who served during World War 1.
The schoolhouse was used to educate students in Cutchogue from 1840 to 1903. Other historic buildings on the Village Green, which is managed by the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council, include a Wickham farmhouse that dates to the 17th century and a carriage house.
Speaking about the American flag on Flag Day, Mr. MacNish, who is executive director of the council, said, “Our flag honors our veterans of World War 1, the last of whom died about 10 years ago.”
In recent weeks, Mr. MacNish set up an exhibit in the carriage house honoring the Cutchogue and New Suffolk men and women who served during that war. One theme of the exhibit, he said, “shows how we banded together for our soldiers, how we supported them.”
On the back wall of the carriage house is a large plaque with the names of more than 30 soldiers from Cutchogue and New Suffolk who served during that war. One is Mr. MacNish’s great uncle, Gordon MacNish, who served in both World War 1 and World War 11. Gordon MacNish died in 1953.
One photograph shows that, on Sept. 6, 1918 – two months before World War 1 ended with an armistice — a dedication of the honor roll of names of local soldiers who served was held in Cutchogue in front of what was then Bett’s Hotel.
The photograph shows a large crowd gathered in front of the hotel, with a number of young boys on the roof to watch the proceedings.
“That hotel was on the corner of Main Road and New Suffolk Road,” he said. “It’s a real estate office now. But you can see how the community came together to honor the soldiers.”
Also in the carriage house is a 1912 American flag, with 48 stars, and what is called a “Service Flag,” or sometimes a “Mother’s Flag,” that was used in those years to honor soldiers.
A tour of the historic homes with Mr. MacNish shows how the council has adapted and changed in recent years to being more inclusive about history. “I am really committed to telling stories that have not been told,” he said.
That commitment is on display in the Old House, which for decades was said to have been built in the 1640s and was said to be the oldest English-built house in the state. That story has been challenged. Wood core tests – called dendrochronology – show that the timbers used in the framing of the house were cut in 1698. Thus, the house would have been built after that.
Also, a deed of sale from 1699 of the land around the house does not describe a house being on the property at all. It is now assumed the house was built by the 1699 buyer of the land, a Joseph Wickham.
A more dramatic change in how history is now being told is inside the Old House. On one wall is a recently placed plaque that tells the story of an enslaved woman named Keturah, who lived in the house. Including stories of the enslaved men, women and children who lived and worked on the North Fork before slavery in New York State ended in 1827 is new for local historical societies.
“I am very proud we have this in the house,” Mr. MacNish says as he points out the story on the plaque.
Keturah’s mother was Zipporah, who was owned by Samuel Landon, a town supervisor in his day. Keturah is thought to have been born in 1789.
“Zipporah and her daughter Keturah were inherited by Jared Landon from his father, Samuel,” the plaque reads. “Jared owned and lived in the Old House. Zipporah and Keturah would have slept in rooms on the third floor and helped around the house, raising the children and working in the kitchen.
“In his will, Jared Landon freed Keturah, and she was officially manumitted in 1817,” the plaque reads.
Asked about the dramatic change in how history is now being told here, Mr. MacNish said, “We want to tell more of the history that happened here. We are committed to that.”
