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Why was New York the birthplace of General George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring? Bring your students to the historic Brewster House to find out!
This living history experience is set in 1776, after the Battle of Long Island. Students will meet Rebecca Brewster, who unbeknownst to her has neighbors who turned to espionage to assist General Washington. During their conversation with Rebecca, students will learn about life under British occupation, hunt for a coded message, and venture to ask Rebecca the question: is she willing to become a spy? Students explore the motivations for the American Revolution and explore multiple perspectives- Patriots, Loyalists, women, the enslaved, and Native Americans – to reflect upon how freedom and revolution sometimes meant different things to different groups of people.
Duration: 1.5 hr
Levels: Customized
Minimum Program Fee: $150.00
Per Student Fee: 10.00
Teacher Fee: FREE
Location: Brewster House
Address: 16 Runs Rd, Setauket- East Setauket, NY 11733
Contact: 631-751-2244
Full boat reservations must be made in advance
$675 per cruise (up to 27 passengers)
Duration: 1.5
Location: Stony Brook Marine Services – Across from the Three Village Inn
Address: Address: 55 Shore Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11790 Directions
Contact: 631-751-2244
The Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s Youth Corps is a volunteer group run by students and facilitated by WMHO staff and volunteers with a common goal of doing something positive to help our community. Our projects are focused on history and the environment. Together we strive to promote stewardship, emulating Ward and Dorothy Melville and their incredible contributions to our community.
Duration: 1 hour
Levels: Customized
Location: Various Locations
Address: Stony Brook and East Setauket
FAQs: http://wmho.org/category/faqs-youth-corps/
Contact: 631-751-2244
Students explore artifacts, games and tasks and learn what home life was like in a typical colonial Long Island family.
For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information. Boces Reimbursable
Duration: 1.5 hr
Levels: Customized
Location: Brewster House
Address: 18 Runs Rd, Setauket- East Setauket, NY 11733
Contact: 631-751-2244
Built in 1665, this grist mill included some of the newest innovations of its time. The mill’s owners would continue to update the mill over the next three centuries,including the use of elevators, moving belts, and screw conveyors to make a milling operation more efficient and profitable.
Take your students see applied mechanical engineering at its best! Students perceive how America’s early millers understood math and science and what today’s engineers could learn from their historical predecessors in the field.
For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information. Boces Reimbursable
Duration: 1.5
Levels: Customized
Location: Stony Brook Grist Mill, c. 1751
Address: 100 Harbor Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11790
Contact: 631-751-2244
What would you do for your freedom?
Imagine a world where escaping everything you have ever known was your only chance to truly live. Set just as the Fugitive Slave Act is passed, Students will meet a former slave named Carolina. Though the story of her life, students will have to figure out how she became free and the secret methods she uses to lead other slaves to their freedom. With the new act in place, Students will be challenged to design escape routes along the Underground Railroad!
Common Core Standard: WMHO supports NY State and Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
New York State Social Studies Standards
7.7b Enslaved African Americans resisted slavery in various ways in the 19th century. The abolitionist movement also worked to raise awareness of and generate resistance to the institution of slavery
Testimonial:
“It was so beautiful and educational – I loved it! My students were so engaged!” Jennifer Amaral, 4th and 5th grade teacher, Crestview Elementary School
Virtual Format: WMHO digital platform include (and are not limited to) Zoom, Google Classroom and MS Teams. Please let us know your digital preferences and we will work with you.
Cost: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information. Boces Reimbursable
Duration: 1 hr
Levels: Customized
Duration: 1 hr
Levels: Customized
Location: From our classroom to yours!
Address:
Contact: 631-751-2244
How did the Culper Spy Ring help General Washington win the American Revolution?
Engage your students with this interactive reader’s theater performance about the Culper Spy Ring- America’s first successful spy network! Presented live from the Setauket, Long Island, in the authentic Brewster House, c. 1665, students role-play Patriots, Loyalist and British soldiers as they meet Joseph Brewster’s indentured servant named Dolly Brown. Students explore multiple perspectives and motivations during the war including Patriots, Loyalists, women, the enslaved, and Native Americans, engage in spy-craft and learn how “ordinary” people have shaped American history.
Boces Arts-In-Education reimbursable.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
New York State Social Studies Standards: 4.3d Growing conflicts between England and the 13 colonies over issues of political and economic rights led to the American Revolution. New York played a significant role during the Revolution, in part due to its geographic location.
Testimonial: “This was a wonderful experience with a fantastic instructor who put forth great effort to engage the students!” –Chris Merz, 4th Grade Teacher, Winthrop Elementary
Duration: 1 hr
Levels: Customized
Minimum Program Fee: $175.00
Location: Virtual: From Your Classroom to Ours!
Address: Brewster House, c. 1709.
Contact: 631-751-2244
Over the course of this 5 day program, that takes place in the heart of an 88-acre wetland preserve, students gain an understanding of the salt marsh ecosystem. Each day students explore a specific facet of the marsh ecosystem including plants, invertebrates, fish, birds and mammals. Time is divided between outdoor exploration, hands-on lab activities and crafts.
Duration: 5 hrs
Levels: Customized
Per Student Fee: TBD
Location: Ernst Marine Conservation Center
Address: West Meadow Creek
Contact: 631-751-2244
As marsh detectives, students search for the many forms of life comprising the intricate marsh ecosystem, and then bring their “evidence” inside the lab for further observation. Among their many observations included the invasive species, Japanese knotweed, which they used to make a flute in the tradition of Native Americans.
Duration:
Per Student Fee: TBD
Location: Ernst Marine Conservation Center
Address: West Meadow Creek
Contact: 631-751-2244
Study a salt marsh ecosystem without even leaving your classroom! This distance learning program enables students to “visit” and study WMHO’s 88-acre pristine wetland preserve. Meeting Next Generation Science Standards for exploring the transfer of energy, students discover the interdependence of plants and animals in a salt marsh food web. Teaching right from the water’s edge, a marine scientist converses with students as they search for live specimens. By the end of the program, students will be able to answer the essential questions: “How are salt marshes among the most productive ecosystems on earth? How can we all work together to be stewards of our salt marshes?”
Boces Arts in Education Reimbursable.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
Next Generation Science Standards: LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in EcosystemsLS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience
Duration: 1
Levels: Elementary , Middle, Customized
Minimum Program Fee: $175.00
Location: Virtual: From your location to Ours (The Ernst Marine Conservation Center)
Address: Trustee’s Road, Stony Brook NY 11790
Contact: 631-751-2244
What are salt marshes? Why are they important? What role do people play in keeping them healthy? These are the questions Coastal Ecology Explorers set out to answer in this interactive that introduces young students to the wonder, beauty and science of coastal ecology. Set in West Meadow Creek, an 88-acre wetland habitat and embayment of the Long Island Sound, students explore west meadow creek’s shoreline to collect and identify marine specimen including crabs, birds and plants. Students learn to perceive the salt marsh as home to many important and delicate relationships between living organisms, land and water.
Boces Arts-in-Ed Reimbursable. Recommended for grades K-3 (see Coastal Ecology Detectives for grades 4 and up!)
WMHO supports Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
Next Generation Science Standards: LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in EcosystemsLS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience
Testimonial: I had an amazing time at the field trip! I loved the puppet show and seeing all the mollusks and crabs! (Olivia, Harbor Country Day School, 1st grade).
Duration: 1.5
Levels: Elementary
Minimum Program Fee: $150.00
Per Student Fee: 10.00
Teacher Fee: FREE
Chaperone Fee: FREE
Location: The Ernst Marine Conservation Center
Address: West Meadow Creek, Setauket
Contact: 631-751-2244
What would you do for your freedom? Imagine a life in which leaving everything you have ever known was your only chance to truly live. Set during the era of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, when free states complied with the laws mandating returning escaped slaves to their owners down South, students meet Carolina. Formerly enslaved and now living in Stony Brook, Long Island, Carolina is a conductor on the Underground Railroad ushering escaped slaves to the Promised Land located in Canada. Carolina illuminates the abolitionist movement, the risks facing the enslaved on a daily basis, and the courage of those that fought to help them such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Using quilt codes and constellations, students imagine being Railroad conductors and design escape routes northward from South Carolina. Together with Carolina, they explore the enduring symbol of freedom for all Americans.
Boces Arts in Education Reimbursable.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports NY State and Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
New York State Social Studies Standards: 7.7b Enslaved African Americans resisted slavery in various ways in the 19th century. The abolitionist movement also worked to raise awareness of and generate resistance to the institution of slavery
Virtual Format: WMHO digital platform include (and are not limited to) Zoom, Google Classroom and MS Teams. Please let us know your digital preferences and we will work with you.
Testimonial “It was so beautiful and educational – I loved it! My students were so engaged!” – Jennifer Amaral, 4th and 5th grade Teacher, Crestview Elementary School
Duration: 1 hr
Levels: Customized
Minimum Program Fee: $175
Location: From our classroom to yours!
Address:
Contact: 631-751-2244
About the Property
Built in 1665 and known as the oldest house in the Town of Brookhaven, the Brewster House, was home to six generations of Brewsters. The house has transformed over the centuries from the one-room cottage to its present saltbox structure. During the American Revolution, Joseph Brewster operated the house as a tavern and general store, entertaining British troops inside. American Patriot Caleb Brewster, cousin of Joseph Brewster and presumably a frequent visitor to the house, was a member of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring during the Revolutionary War.
About the Program
The Taste of the Tavern program at the Brewster House allows a group to not only explore the oldest house in the town of Brookhaven, but learn about the way that colonial long islanders lived under British rule during the American Revolution. The history of the Culper Spy Ring is brought to life with an interactive and engaging presentation of the changing home, family and occupants through the centuries. In this escape room, you will discover for yourself where Joseph Brewster’s loyalties lied – to the British who controlled his family’s welfare or the patriots who promised freedom. After the experience, guests will experience an authentic colonial tea to drink in the original tavern room (circa 1740).
The Brewster House is listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places.
Duration: 1.5
Adult Fee: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information.
Location: The Brewster House, c. 1665
Address: 16 Runs Road East Setauket NY 11733
Contact: 631-751-2244
About the Property
Built in 1709, this five-room saltbox farmhouse is one of the largest houses in the Town of Brookhaven. The Thompson House was home to five generations of Thompsons. American Patriot, Farmer and Physician, Doctor Thompson was a prestigious member of the Setauket community, who treated many local residents. Members of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring are listed in his “Cash Receipt Book,” c. 1787, which was a list of his patients.
About the Program
The adult program at the Thompson House focuses on the development of medicine since the 18th century. It includes a look into the complex life that Dr. Samuel Thompson lived – as a doctor, apothecary, slave-owner and American patriot. Guests will learn about the influences of Thompson’s life, especially his involvement in the Revolutionary War and his bloodletting practices. A discussion of Revolutionary War diseases including Yellow Fever, Smallpox and dysentery will give guests and understanding of the impact illness has had on the course of American history. With this program, guests will be able to select a choice of tea to drink while they learn about the natural medicines that doctors would have prescribed during the Revolutionary War.
The Thompson house is listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places.
Duration: 1.0
Adult Fee: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information.
Location: The Thompson House
Address: 91 North Country Road East Setauket NY 11733
Contact: 631-751-2244
About the Property
The Stony Brook Grist Mill, Long Island’s most completely equipped working mill, is listed on the National and New York State Register of Historic Places.
During the 1800s, a vineyard was planted on the island in the Mill Pond. Catawba grapes were pressed and fermented in the Stony Brook Grist Mill, bottled in Brooklyn and sold at a nearby tavern. In earlier times, the mill was the center of community life. People exchanged news and gossip as they waited for the miller to grind their grain. In the 19th century a miller by the name of Alois Kopriva who emigrated from Poland, played the violin and entertained his guests with gypsy music. Kopriva was also an advocate for women’s right to vote. As recently as the 1950’s, farmers still brought their wheat and corn to be ground at the mill. Miller Schaefer ground natural wheat at the mill and shipped his “health food” to customers in 42 states.
About the Program
The adult program at the Stony Brook Grist Mill invites its guests to learn about the inner workings of a mill and trace the evolution of industry in America from the early 18th century to today. Visitors will hear about the owners and workers of the mill and how it has developed over 320 years. After the program, the Country Store will be open for your shopping pleasure.
Cost: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information.
Duration: 1.0
Location: The Stony Brook Grist Mill, c. 1751
Address: 100 Harbor Road Stony Brook NY 11790
Contact: 631-751-2244
About the Property
Located in the heart of The Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s 88-acre wetlands preserve is the Erwin J. Ernst Marine Conservation Center (EMCC). Named after Dr. Erwin J. Ernst, the Center has been an important part of WMHO for more than 50 years. The building houses two classrooms, a learning lab, microscopes and touch tanks.
About the Program
The adult program at the EMCC includes a discussion on conservation history, the DNA of our marine ancestors and current ecological challenges facing our planet. A short nature walk follows where guests will identify birds, marine invertebrates and the marsh plants. Healthy snack included.
Duration: 1.5
Adult Fee: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information.
Location: The Ernst Marine Conservation Center
Address: Trustee’s Road, East Setauket, NY 11733
Contact: 631-751-2244
Long Island’s most completely equipped working Grist Mill, the Stony Brook Grist Mill is a unique historic site for your student’s field trip experience. Students join the miller in their day’s work, discovering the principles of how water powers the mill’s mechanisms. Students apply their knowledge as Assistant Millers by shelling corn and bagging ground grain.
“When I ask my students their favorite memories from the school year, they say it is our trip to the Stony Brook Grist Mill.” – 5th grade teacher, Middle Country School District
For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information. Boces Reimbursable
Duration: 1.5
Levels: Customized
Location: Stony Brook Grist Mill
Address: Harbor Road Stony Brook NY 11790
Contact: 6317512244
How is the Long Island Sound important for human and animals health?
In this STEM and conservation program, students explore the variety of animal and plant habitats that call Long Island Sound their home. By conducting research of their local Long Island Sound ecosystem, students compare and contrast variables including water quality, turbidity and species diversity. Students learn that every animal and plant needs a home, and together, with their peers, problem solve on how humans can help make that possible.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports Common Core Standards learning by creating rich learning environment where students study and observe specimen, conduct research, and participate in an exchange of ideas.
Next Generation Science Standards:
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience
ESS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
Testimonial:
“This was an authentic learning at its best. Students felt there was a real purpose for their research projects on this unit. A big part of the excitement of the program was the anticipation of meeting the class in Bridgeport Connecticut on the other side of the Long Island Sound. This program allow our students to have a hands-on experience to learn about the biodiversity of the wetlands and the water quality of the sound. Thank you to all those that have made this experience possible for our students!” – Michele Miller & Doreen Barry, 6th Grade Science Teachers at Selden Middle School, Long Island
Duration: 1 hour
Levels: Customizable for K-12
Fee: For this program fee, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information. Boces Reimbursable
Location: Broadcasting live from Ernst Marine Conservation Center on West Meadow Preserve. WMHO digital platform include (and are not limited to) Zoom, Google Classroom and MS Teams. Please let us know your digital preferences and we will work with you.
Duration: 1
Levels: Customized
Location: The Ernst Marine Conservation Center from the comfort of your own home or classroom!
Address: Trustee’s Road, Stony Brook NY 11790
Contact: 631-751-2244
Go back in time to the year 1790 just after the American Revolution, to meet Patriot, farmer, and physician, Doctor Samuel Thompson. As Doctor Samuel Thompson’s medical apprentices, students cure yellow fever, mend a broken leg, and prevent smallpox through inoculation. Students discover Doctor Thompson’s tools for treatment such as leeches, inoculation, and herbs, and how diverse people and technologies from across Africa, indigenous America and Europe contributed to the foundations of America’s rich medical culture. To conclude, students meet a 21st century medical student and assist them in a role-play diagnosing a modern day patient.
Boces Arts in Ed Reimbursable. We support NY State and Common Core Standard learning. Students use artifacts, primary sources and secondary documents, as well as participate in an exchange of ideas, critical thinking and peer collaboration.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports NY State and Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas
New York State Learning Standards: 4.3d Students will examine New York’s geographic location relative to the other colonies, locate centers of Loyalist support, and examine the extent of the British occupation.
For book this program, please contact 631-751-2244 for more information or email eddirector@wmho.org
Duration: 1.5
Levels: Elementary , Middle, Customized
Minimum Program Fee: $150.00
Per Student Fee: 10.00
Teacher Fee: Free
Chaperone Fee: FREE
Location: The Thompson House, c. 1709
Address: 91 North Country Road
Contact: 631-751-2244
How do earth’s land and water interact to produce a salt marsh ecosystem? How does energy move through the biosphere to produce the salt marsh food web? What happens if these relationships are thrown out of balance?
These are the questions Coastal Ecology Detectives explore in this interactive program set at West Meadow Creek, an 88-acre wetland habitat, and embayment of the Long Island Sound. Students explore West Meadow Creek’s shoreline to collect and identify marine specimen including crabs, birds and plants, create shoreline erosion models, and compare and contrast fresh, salt and brackish water for salinity, turbidity and oxygen.
Boces Arts-in-Education Reimbursable. Recommended for grades 4th -7th.
Common Core Standards: WMHO supports NY State and Common Core Standard learning by creating rich virtual environment where students study and observe artifacts, primary sources, and participate in an exchange of ideas
Next Generation Science Standards:
S2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems; ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
Duration: 1.5 hr
Levels: Elementary , Middle
Minimum Program Fee: $150.00
Per Student Fee: 10.00
Teacher Fee: FREE
Chaperone Fee: FREE
Location: The Ernst Marine Conservation Center
Address: Trustee’s Road, East Setauket, NY
Contact: 631-751-2244
PO Box 572
Stony Brook, NY 11790
Phone 631-751-2244
Fax (631) 751-2024
