Old Bethpage, 1303 Round Swamp Road (Exit 48 of the Long Island Expressway)

516-572-8400

Open: Hours as of November 1, 2009, are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Wednesday - Sunday.

Museum Admission: $10, adults; $7, children 5 - 12 (under 5 are free); and $7, seniors, volunteer firefighters.

Please note that Old Bethpage Village closed for the winter season on December 31. It is scheduled to reopen on April 1, 2010.

Click here for Google map

NEWS BRIEF: The dog run at Old Bethpage Village is closed for the winter. The dog run has separate areas for large and small dogs and features a "green" rain-water collection system, including a filtration element that provides dogs with drinking water. The dog run is located near the entrance to the property. Hours at the dog run are the same as the Village.

Civil War re-enactments are a regular attraction at Old Bethpage Village Restoration. Shown here is the Company "E" of the 14th Brooklyn Regiment, remembered for its unique variation of the French Chasseurs uniform.

Exploring Long Island's 19th-Century Living History Museum

The Manetto Hill Church (top), dating to 1857, and the Long Island Fair Exhibit Hall (above) are two of the dozens of buildings at OBVR.

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 fall, 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 the village supports a steady series of family-friendly events and exhibits, including old-time "base ball" tournaments.

Old Bethpage Village Restoration (OBVR) 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 rapid post-World War II development on Long Island had taken a toll on the area's landmarks.

Although OBVR never existed as an historic entity, it represents a typical rural Long Island farm village of the mid-19th century — one whose roots can actually be found in the earlier Dutch and English settlement of Long Island.

During the 1640s, the colonial settlers founded town "spots" throughout the region that functioned as commerical and social centers where taverns, general stores and meeting houses were built. Townsmen received a centrally located town lot as well as outlying fields to use for grazing livestock, growing crops or havesting firewood.

By 1700, 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 and land. Life remained quiet, unhurried and closely tied to nature — patterns that were evident until well into the 19th century and that can be experienced at OBVR.

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 were selected based on their architectural detail and historic significance, with the goal of establishing a representative sampling of historic structures.

After buildings were moved to the village, they were carefully restored to a specific point in their history, and the lives of the former occupants thoroughly researched. Each structure has been 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 could be authentically furnished (in some cases with pieces original to the building).

Among the historic buildings is the Schenck House, built around 1730 and one of the oldest Dutch farmhouses remaining in the U.S. The house displays typical massive Dutch framing, particularly on the first floor ceiling joists, which span 32 feet. Other notable features include a side gabled roof with flared eaves, round butt shingles, heavy window sash, and a massive stone jambless fireplace.

Another is the Benjamin House, built in 1829 by William F. Benjamin, a Congregational minister, farmer and pastor to the Shinnecock and Poosepatuck Native American tribes. (One of Benjaman's brothers, Simeon, wasa prominent merchant and a founder of Elmira College, the first institution of higher learning for women.) The Benjamin House was constructed in the late Federal country style and its furnishings reflect the lifestyle of this relatively affluent farmer and respected minister.

Visit Old Bethpage Village to see these buildings and others and allow yourself to be transported into an earlier time in the history of Long Island and New York.

Saturday, April 10
Long Island Rabbit Show

Sundays, April 11, 18 & 25
History Alive! Hands-On History

April TBD
14th Brooklyn Militia School of the Soldier: Camp Wood

Sundays, May 2, 9, 16 & 23

History Alive! Hands-On History

Saturday - Sunday, May 15 - 16
Historic American Military Timeline, 1775 - 2010

Saturday - Monday , May 29 - 31
From Sheep to Shawl: Sheep Shearing, Wool Carding, Wool Spinning & Weaving,
Music, "Base Ball" & Games

Monday, May 31
An 1880 Decoration Day Parade & Ceremony

Sunday, June 6
Huntington Militia Drill & Camp (rain date: 6/12)

Sunday, June 13
Model "A" Ford Show on Long Island Fairgrounds (rain date:6/27)

Saturday, June 26
Traditional American Country Dances

Sunday, July 4
An 1865 Independence Day Celebration

Saturday - Sunday, July 17 - 18
Civil War Life in the Field & in Camp

Saturday, July 31 - August 1
Long Island Historic "Base Ball" Tournament

Friday - Sunday , August 13 - 15
Friday the 13th in 1880 Long Island

Saturday - Sunday, September 4 - 5
Olde-Time Music Weekend

Saturday - Sunday, October 9 - 10
Olde-Time Brass Band Concerts

Sunday, October 10

Traditional American Country Dances

Saturday - Sunday, October 23 - 24
A Haunted 1880 Long Island Halloween

Saturday - Sunday, October 30 - 31
A Haunted 1880 Long Island Halloween

Saturday - Sunday, November 13 - 14
Long Island Woodworkers Show on Long Island Fairgrounds

Saturday - Sunday, November 20 - 21
An 1863 Long Island Thanksgiving Holiday

Saturday - Sunday, November 27 - 28
An 1863 Long Island Thanksgiving Holiday

Saturday - Sunday, December 18 - 19
Holiday Candlelight Evenings: open 5 - 9:30 p.m.

Sunday - Thursday, December 26 - 30
Holiday Candlelight Evenings: open 5 - 9:30 p.m.

Old Bethpage Village Offers Youngsters a Glimpse of 19th-Century Life
During Summer Camp Program

Old Bethpage Village Restoration is one of the metropolitan area’s truly unique properties, allowing visitors to travel back in time for a day and experience life inside a recreated 19th-century Long Island village, complete with dozens of historic homes and townspeople in period costume. This summer, youngsters ages nine through 12 can immerse themselves in that environment for a week through OBVR’s Junior Apprentice Program, announced Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano.

OBVR will begin taking names and addresses from parents interested in the popular program in February 2010. There are four one-week sessions the weeks of June 28, July 12, July 26 and August 9, from 10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. The fee for each session is $230 per child and participants are limited to one session only.

The Junior Apprentice Program provides a crash course for youngsters in how their peers lived on Long Island during the 19th century, when the area was still defined by the rhythms of rural life. As part of the camp program, youngsters wear clothing from the period (including Civil War outfits) and engage in the daily routines of 19th-century life, such as farming and other physical chores, crafts, education, and games and other diversions.

“Although some of the children initially find life without contemporary conveniences to be a bit of a challenge, they ultimately find the experience enriching and certainly gain an appreciation for the lives led by an earlier generation of Long Islanders,” says Jim McKenna, OBVR site director.

For more information and to receive an application, call Old Bethpage Village Restoration at 516-572-8401.

Old Bethpage Village Celebrates "1863 Thanksgiving" Over Two Weekends

Old Bethpage Village Restoration (OBVR) will celebrate an “1863 Thanksgiving” over two successive weekends November 21 - 22 and November 28 - 29 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Visitors to the recreated 19th-century village will be able to enjoy the sights and smells of an old-fashioned Thanksgiving, as wood-burning stoves, beehive stoves, beehive ovens and hearths are used to prepare foods and baked goods made from 19th-century recipes. The culinary exhibits include the “spitting” and roasting of turkey in a tin reflector oven beside the Williams House hearth and preparation of pies at the Powell House. OBVR will also display 19th-century methods of food preservation employed for late fall crops.

In addition, each afternoon, historical period music will be played while at the Noon Inn, children’s stories will be read several times each day.

“This program, which is itself a tradition at Old Bethpage Village, is a wonderful way for Long Islanders to connect with 19th-century American culture during one of our most significant national holidays,” says Jim McKenna, OBVR site director and curator.

To view a Newsday video about Thanksgiving at Old Bethpage Village, click here

"This Old House" Pays a Visit to an Old Long Island Village

The popular home-improvement series "This Old House" paid a visit to historic Old Bethpage Village Restoration on August 7 to see how things were built nearly three centuries ago, in preparation for one of its episodes this fall.

"This Old House" host Kevin O'Connor, joined by architecture writer Russell Versaci and a film crew, spent three hours at the Village looking over the historic Schenck House, one of the oldest Dutch farmhouses remaining in the U.S. As such, the property was of interest to the show's producers, who are engaged in the renovation of a 1915 Dutch Colonial home in the Boston suburb of Newton Centre that will be the focus of several "This Old House" shows beginning October 8.

Versaci, who provided a tour for O'Connor, is an architect and writer who featured the Schenck House in one of his books, "Roots of Home." In exploring the Schenck House, Versaci covered the exterior and interior of the home and focused on such unique design aspects as the round butt shingles, the gabled roof with flared eaves, the heavy beams with "H" construction, and the massive stone jambless fireplace.

Built around 1730, the Schenck House displays typical massive Dutch framing, particularly on the first-floor ceiling joists, which span 32 feet. The home was originally situated in the area now constituting Manhasset and is the only authentic Dutch-style home at Old Bethpage, although other buildings in the Village have features drawn from that style of architecture. The home was originally occupied by Dutch farmer Minne Schenck, his three daughters and one son. The son, Martin, inherited the farm upon his father's death in 1767 at the age of 67.

In the New York City-Nassau County area, "This Old House" can be seen on public stations such as Channel 13 and 21.