Three Village Historical Society and Museum (TVHS) is a historical society and museum headquartered in East Setauket, New York, that preserves the history of the villages of Old Field and Poquott, the Setaukets, and Stony Brook. The society educates visitors about local history through events, walking tours, and educational programs. Chartered by the New York State Board of Regents in 1966 (provisional) and 1968 (absolute), the society collects, preserves, and interprets materials related to the region’s cultural history, including settler-colonial history, maritime and shipbuilding industries, the Culper Spy Ring, Indigenous and African American communities, and local architecture.`
TVHS is headquartered at the Bayles–Swezey House (c. 1800) at 93 North Country Road in Setauket, acquired in 1998 as its first permanent home. The organization amended its charter in 2024 to incorporate “Museum” in its official name.
The society had great success with an exhibition about the area's Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution. The television show Turn: Washington's Spies led to major interest among the public, with attendance more than doubling since the AMC show's debut.
In 2016, the society presented an exhibition about Chicken Hill, a historic mixed-race enclave that was destroyed by urban development in the 1960s. Chicken Hill was a now-lost historic multi-ethnic community. TVHS has curated exhibits (including a virtual one) to reconstruct and bring awareness to that history. Currently, there is a movement to save another historic mixed-race community: Bethel-Christian Avenue-Laurel Hill Historical District.
History
Founding (1964–1968) The society was founded on October 30, 1964, at the Suffolk Museum (now the Jazz Loft) by local residents who sought to promote awareness of the Three Village area’s history among residents and visitors. Present at the formation meeting were Captain Edward R. Rhodes, Bill Cabrey, Bill Minuse, Russ Atkinson, Andy White, and Bill Simpson. Captain Edward Reginald (Reg) Rhodes was elected the Society's first President. By the fourth meeting, they elected Bill Ploch, Vice President, Andy White, Treasurer, and Frank Davis, Secretary. The Trustees and members continued to meet at the Suffolk Museum until 1976. The society drafted purposes centered on collecting and preserving historical materials, safeguarding buildings and monuments, and disseminating historical information. A provisional charter was granted on December 16, 1966, and an absolute charter on September 27, 1968. The Regents of the University of the State of New York granted the Society a Provisional Charter on December 16, 1966, and an Absolute Charter on September 27, 1968. The Charter Members listed on the Provisional Charter were Russell A. Atkinson, Frank G. Davis, Ward Melville, William B. Minuse, William F. Ploch, Edward R. Rhodes, Percy W. Smith, William T. Simpson, Kate Strong and Andrew M. White.
First decade (1964–1973) Under Capt. Rhodes (President: 1964–1970), TVHS launched the "Three Village Historian" in June 1965 and began a historic house-marker program, with local homes researched by members and signs decorated with a hermaphrodite brig motif referencing the Daisy, a locally built ship constructed in 1871 by Nehemiah Hand. The society also joined the American Association for State and Local History, began oral history collection, and appointed Bill Ploch to be the custodian of documents and artifacts. In 1967, TVHS helped convene the Association of Suffolk County Historical Societies; in 1968, a $25,000 gift established a building fund. The second President was Dr. Percy L. Bailey, Jr. (1971–1972), a retired college professor. Under his leadership Setauket, the First Three Hundred Years, produced in 1955 by the Setauket-Brookhaven Tercentenary Committee and long out of print, was reprinted in November 1971. Dr. Bailey also took over as editor of the Three Village Historian from Capt. Rhodes, editor since the first issue in June 1965. The first of many bus trips to historic places was held on June 5, 1971, when the Society visited the Richmondtown Restoration on Staten Island.
Second decade (1974–1983) William B. Minuse was the third Society president (1973–1976). In 1973, the Society started to hold monthly meetings in the Marco C. Smith Building at Caroline Church. At this time, a survey of historic resources in the Three Villages was undertaken under the chairmanship of Dr. Karl D. Hartzell.
TVHS undertook a survey of historic resources and supported Bicentennial efforts, including the "Greening of Route 25A". The society collaborated on the "Three Village Guidebook" (1976; second printing 1977) edited by Howard Klein and illustrated by Patricia Windrow, and provided guides/interpreters at the Thompson House under an agreement with the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (now Preservation Long Island). TVHS advocated for Brookhaven Town historic districts (approved 1978) and organized large public programs, including a 1977 re-enactment of the Battle of Setauket and the 1979 "Our Indian Heritage" festival. The society launched school-based local history programming (1979) and began processing a growing archive (1980–1982), culminating in the Capt. Edward R. Rhodes Memorial Collection of Local History at Emma S. Clark Memorial Library (dedicated 1983).
On March 1st, 1975, an agreement was signed with the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities for the Three Village Historical Society to provide qualified guides to show the historic Thompson House to the public. The agreement also included the use of part of the house as headquarters for the Society. Dr. Bailey and Jean Minuse first headed this effort, which continued for twelve years. Out of this effort, the Society developed a new interpretation based on the Thompson family in 1748.
The fourth President was Beverly C. Tyler (1977–1980). During his term of office, there was a great upsurge of activity within the Society. Many members of the Bicentennial Committee joined the Society. The Ward Melville Community Award, in appreciation of valuable contributions to the advancement of the quality of life in the Three Villages, and the Kate Wheeler Strong Memorial Award, in recognition of significant contributions toward the fostering of interest in local history, were created and were awarded for the first time in October 1977. The Society also took a very active part in bringing about legislation for the establishment of historic districts in Brookhaven Town in 1977 and in obtaining approval of the Stony Brook Historic District, the Old Setauket Historic District, The East Setauket Historic District and the Dyer's Neck Historic District in 1978.
The Society organized its first Candlelight House Tour, featuring buildings of historic and architectural significance, in December 1979. This first tour was for the benefit of the Setauket Neighborhood House, which became the regular meeting place of the Society the same year. It also became the Society's headquarters in 1985.
Dr. Robert L. deZafra (1981–1983) was the fifth President of the Society. In May 1981, the Society began an archaeological dig of a prehistoric (3,000–1,000 BP) Algonquian Indian tool manufacturing site near West Meadow Creek. Artifacts from this Frachetti Site, named after the builder who voluntarily halted his own development to make the dig possible, are now a part of the Society's collection. In June 1982, an emergency archaeological dig at the site of the Robert Nelson Mount House in East Setauket was sponsored by the Society and incorporated the local community as volunteers in the excavation and archival research. The artifacts from this site are also a part of the Society's collection.
The Local History Collection was moved to space made available in the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in August 1982 and dedicated as the Capt. Edward R. Rhodes Memorial Collection of Local History on March 27, 1983. It has since become the most important project of the Society. The society had taken over responsibility for the Brewster Cemetery in Setauket in 1983, formed a cemetery committee, and cleaned up the cemetery, but this restoration of the stones and survey of the cemetery began a program that resulted in the restoration and survey of a number of Three Village area private cemeteries over the next two decades.
Third decade (1984–1993) Ruth Regan (1984–1985) was the sixth President of the Society. An important step was taken when the Society agreed to coordinate the interpretation of the Stony Brook Grist Mill, starting in June 1984. The society continued to train millers and interpret the mill until it was closed for extensive renovations in 1988. The Ward Melville Heritage Organization now maintains and interprets the mill.
A series of oral history workshops was conducted, beginning in October 1984. As a result, an oral history committee was formed, and over the next decade, it added much valuable material to the society's collection. At the annual dinner in 1984, special awards were presented to Harvey Allen for his countless services to the Society and to the widow and children of the late Bruce Giles for his splendid accomplishments in preserving and restoring, for adaptive reuse as offices, the Old East Setauket School House at Route 25A and Old Coach Road.
Beverly C. Tyler (1986–1988) was the seventh President of the Society. The major event that year was the republication and updating of the Three Village Guidebook. This continues to be one of the most important printed sources of Three Village historic information available to the public. The twelve-year agreement with the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities for showing the Thompson House was terminated by mutual consent on December 31, 1987. SPLIA trained personnel to develop its own interpretation programs, although members of the Society continued to assist as volunteer docents until the Thompson House was closed for needed repairs.
In 1988, theatre scholar Glenda Dickerson, working with the Christian Avenue community in Setauket, collaborated with the Three Village Historical Society to create Eel Catching in Setauket: A Living Library. The project blended oral histories, folklore, and performance to foreground African American local history. Dickerson, then an associate professor of theater arts at the State University at Stony Brook, discovered that much of the community's history had survived through stories passed down for generations. Determined to preserve these voices, she gathered narratives in their own words. Theodore “Blue Medicine” Green, Chief of the Setalcott Nation and a TVHS trustee, coordinated with Dickerson to facilitate access to Black and Indigenous community members and to develop a walking tour that complemented her theatrical performance.
Dickerson's creative research drew on the talents of volunteers from across the community. University interns and teachers recorded oral histories with support from TVHS historians and Christian Avenue residents. The project culminated in staged performances at the university's Theater Arts Department, where oral histories, folklore, artifacts, and William Sidney Mount paintings were woven into dramatic vignettes. Eight professional actors portrayed members of the Christian Avenue community, bringing their stories to life. The Society's May 1988 issue of The Historian served as the program booklet for Eel Catching in Setauket: A Living Library – The African American Christian Avenue Community, ensuring the performance lived on as both an introduction to the neighborhood and a memorial to its enduring history.