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11 SPIES!

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The First Spy on Long Island by Mary Lares The spy ring of Long Island during the American Revolution is something that not many people know much about. This ring was made of a number of men who worked to gather information and intel from the British troops to relay to George Washington. In the war, Long Island was one of the very first areas that was taken by the British redcoats. It was also occupied the longest; the last troops once the war was won left the new United States from Long Island. So, many people wondered, how was it that these patriots were able to win a war so stacked in the favor of the enemy? The Culper spy ring of Long Island had an incredible effect on the plans and successes of the patriots. However, the entire ring would not have been possible if Nathan Hale had not been asked by Washington himself in 1776 to cross into enemy territory as the first spy on Long Island. Nathan Hale was tasked with going through Manhattan and onto Long Island to find out when the
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10 Greenport & Southold Indian Museum

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Development of Greenport Village by Molly Fowler The water surrounding Greenport Village, Long Island very much shaped the area that is now recognized as being a historic seaport. Located on the northern fork, the Greenport Harbor which we visited is a much deeper harbor than you have in other places, as was shown by the large fishing fleets we saw anchored there. However, it is not as big of a whaling port compared to another dominant Long Island location such as Sag Harbor. In many ways, it can be argued that Greenport “comes of age” as a result of whaling, as hundreds of men from Long Island went out to sea in the 19th century as whalers. Even so, thousands more were employed in supporting industries such as ship building. This is noteworthy as whaling was the seventh largest industry in the United States, in addition to being the fourth largest in New York State, with ship building not far behind in importance.   Figure 1. An image of Greenport Harbor from the shoreline. While the
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9 Witches!

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The First Witch Trial by Riley Smith Though we were not able to physically visit Easthampton this week, we were able to learn about its history regarding witchcraft and its origins. Easthampton was established in 1648 and made by the colonists of New Haven, Connecticut. The first witch trial was not until 1657 while they were still a developing town, when a married sixteen year old girl giving birth to a child started the idea of witches being in Easthampton. Her father, Gardiner, was a wealthy man and was known well by the town. After giving birth on a Friday, Young Elizabeth acted very odd and yelled that there was a witch and a dark shadow by her bed. She would continue to say how she was bewitched and by Sunday, she was dead from a fever she claimed was due to spiritual causes.   The one she accused as a witch was Goody Garlick, a woman who came over from England as an indentured servant and was able to marry into a good family. The town began to tell stories of their own about Goo
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8 Mystic Seaport

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Commodification of Whaling Byproducts by Vandana Menser   Whalers would often pass time between catches engraving either leftover teeth or bones, but the only requirement for the carvings to be considered scrimshaw was that it must be material from a cetacean mammal. Because sperm whales were considered to be the most valuable economically, most scrimshaw was done on the teeth of said species purely due to availability. Scenes depicted often included either dramatic happenings on board or portraits of the whaleboats themselves.   Upon scrimshaw’s increasing popularity, indigenous groups like the Inuit from the polar regions of North America began to sell walrus tusks to sailors and artists. Walrus tusks were larger, flatter, and longer, making them easier to carve on than rotund and short sperm whale teeth. Scrimshaw is known as one of the only completely original American art forms.   Shown here are three preserved fetal whales, likely one from a blue whale and two from sperm whales.
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