Last week, a far-reaching discovery was made in a muddy river bottom in Alabama. It is a discovery that speaks to our history, and to the past we as a nation still struggle to understand and, in some ways, come to terms with. This American journey, this grand experiment in “we the people,” is dependent on knowing where we’ve been. It is dependent on facts. (more…)
Not long after the founding of Southold Town in the mid-1600s, and more than a century before the western end of the town broke off and became Riverhead, the institution of slavery was part of day-to-day farming life on the North Fork. READ
In 1940, when Southold was preparing to celebrate its 300th anniversary, restoration work was done on The Old House in Cutchogue. During that process, something was discovered under a section of the hearth that, seen through a modern-day lens, is important. READ
They were here, nearly from the founding of Southold Town in the mid-17th century. Their presence has not been widely discussed or been part of the conversation in either Southold or Riverhead towns, where the stories of the founding English families have dominated the narrative for generations as if theirs were the only stories worth telling. READ
Her name was Sarah. She was 8 years old.
Old enough to be sold by her owner in Southold Town to a man named John Parker, who owned a mill on the Peconic River near what today is downtown Riverhead. READ