Back Room in the Kirby House in Old Bethpage Village Restoration, May 2007

Round Swamp Road
Old Bethpage, NY 11804

Old Bethpage Village Restoration provides visitors with a unique and wonderful opportunity to step back in time and experience life in a recreated mid-19th-century American village. The 209-acre village includes an assortment of homes, farms and businesses. Each October, the village hosts the Long Island Fair, a traditional county agricultural fair that draws tens of thousands of visitors, and through most of the year has a steady series of family-friendly events and exhibits, including old-time baseball tournaments.

Old Bethpage Village Restoration came into existence in 1963, when Nassau County acquired the Powell property, a 165-acre farm located on the Nassau-Suffolk border. The acquisition of the land and the plan to develop a historic restoration were timely, as development on Long Island had taken its toll on the area's landmarks.

In 1963, Plainview's historic Manetto Hill Methodist Church was the first structure to be saved and moved to the Powell property. Today, there are 51 historic buildings and seven reconstructions and the site encompasses 209 acres. Buildings are selected based on their architectural detail and historic significance. The goal is to establish a representative sampling of 19th-century structures.

After buildings have been moved to the village, they are carefully restored to a specific point in their history, and the lives of the former occupants are thoroughly researched. Each structure is scrutinized for clues to its role in community life, and authentic hardware, shingles and glass sought - with the help of wills, deeds, and inventory lists - so the structures can beauthentically furnished ( in some cases with pieces original to the building).

But the roots of Old Bethpage Village date back even further than the 19th century to the Dutch and English settlement of Long Island. During the 1640s, the colonial settlers in this area founded town "spots" that functioned as commercial and social centers where taverns, general stores and meeting houses were built. In addition to a centrally located town lot, each townsman received outlying fields to use for grazing livestock, growing crops, or harvesting firewood.

By 1700, when the English had gained control of Long Island, townships controlled whatever land had not already been distributed, and the economy had expanded to include trades dependent on the sea as well as the land. Life remained quiet, unhurried and closely tied to nature. These patterns, evident well well into the 19th century, can be seen at Old Bethpage Restoration.

Text from: www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/parks/WhereToGo/museums/c...