The Bridgehampton Historical Society presents an exhibition exploring the customs and practices surrounding Death & Mourning in the mid to late 19th century. The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, October 28, from 5-7 pm at the Corwith House Museum, and the exhibit will remain open through February 2012.

On exhibit will be materials depicting Victorian mourning customs based on a strict set of rules that upper and middle class families strove to follow. The responsibility fell mainly on widowed women, who were expected to grieve for as long as two and a half years. Their clothing often progressed through several stages of mourning.

Homes were also decorated in times of mourning. Black crepe draped on the front door was the solemn symbol that a household was mourning the loss of a loved-one, and throughout the home mirrors and paintings were covered or draped in black.

Visitors to the Bridgehampton Historical Society’s Corwith House Museum will experience a re-creation of the symbolism of death and dying. Throughout the museum, period artifacts, artwork and mourning fashions and jewelry will illustrate Victorian customs associated with death, grief and condolences.

The Bridgehampton Historical Society’s Corwith House Museum is located at 2368 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 am till 3 pm and through November 19th on Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm. For more information about the exhibit or the Historical Society, telephone 631-537-1088.

“Visual Images of 100 Years of Farming in Greater Bridgehampton”–Exhibit Opening at The BHHS Archives

Opening Reception: Friday, July 8th, 5-7pm, Bridgehampton Historical Society, Archives Building, 2537-A Montauk Highway

The Bridgehampton Historical Society will celebrate the opening of their third and primary 2011 season exhibit on Friday July 8th at 5pm at their Archives Location, next door to the Nathaniel Rogers House, currently under restoration. This reception will officially open the “Visual Images of 100 Years of Farming in Greater Bridgehampton” exhibit, a pictorial display of the area’s most historic farms and farmers. “From the 17th century, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, Mecox and Hay Ground were settled as agricultural communities. During the 1700s, most farms were geared to “subsistence agriculture,” focusing on growing crops to feed and clothe their families with enough left over to trade with their neighbors,” according to the historical society’s Archivist and Curator, Julie Greene.  “In the later part of the 1800s the potato increasingly became the dominant crop, and by 1900, the potato was king on eastern Long Island.”

Thanks to many years of dedicated and haphazard community contributors, the historical society has an esteemed collection of local imagery featuring agricultural landscapes and people. Samples include Bertha Musnicki and John C. White Jr. on plows, Raymond Young with children, Warren Conklin with calves, and a plethora of fields, barns, meadows and avenues. With the familiar narration of Julie Greene, these photos come alive, entertain and educate us all about great Bridgehampton’s agricultural past and preciousness today.
All of the Bridgehampton Historical Society’s 2011 season exhibits and events focus on the history of farming in greater Bridgehampton. Concurrent to this exhibit is the historical society’s “Farm Scenes” exhibit at the Corwith House Museum which highlights work by noted local artists that capture nostalgic farming landscapes and vistas, both surviving and lost, across Sagaponack, Bridgehampton, and Hay Ground.