Cover photo: Medeival demonstrators stage a sword fight (Credit – Matt Meduri)
Every year for the last forty years, residents from the Town of Brookhaven and across Suffolk County descend on the Longwood Estate for the annual country fair.
The historic house and its grounds were transformed into various historical landscapes, including reenactments from the Civil War and Revolutionary War, demonstrations of colonial-era life, and, new for this year, medieval gatherings and sword fighting battles.
With a modest admission price of $5, children were permitted for free, visitors received a “passport to the past” to visit the various booths, actors, and demonstrations for an eclectic historical palette of entertainment and education.
With a modest admission price of $5, children were permitted for free, visitors received a “passport to the past” to visit the various booths, actors, and demonstrations for an eclectic historical palette of entertainment and education.
“Our primary focus is history, so we have the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, historic books, blacksmiths, and this year, we brought in the medieval era because history is built on the time periods before, and it’s a great opportunity to do something a little bit different,” Diane Schwindt, Director of Historic Facilities for the Town of Brookhaven, told The Messenger. “We also consult with our historians to make sure that everything is historically correct.”
Some vendors from the current era were on hand, including the Longwood Public Library, the office of Councilman Michael Loguercio (R-Ridge), private crafters selling merchandise, as well as food trucks and vintage cars. Some vendors even helped staff the event, with the historic schoolhouse staffed by the Longwood Library.
“This is our chance to show off a large, historic park here in the Town of Brookhaven; it’s open to everybody,” Barbara Russell, Brookhaven Town Historian, told The Messenger.
Russell walked The Messenger through the family history at the Longwood Estate and how it came into the Town’s possession nearly fifty years ago.
About the Longwood Estate
The property was originally purchased by William “Tangier” Smith in the late 1600s, who married Hannah Smith, of the Richard “Bull” Smith line. The house on the Ridge property is estimated to have been built in 1790. The couple died young and left three orphaned children, the oldest being William Sidney Smith, who inherited the house and its 7,000 acres of land when he was twenty-one years old.
The aforementioned Smith lived in the house from 1824 until his death in 1879, even celebrating his and his wife’s fiftieth wedding anniversary in the house. Their ten children were all raised on the property, which prompted the expansion of the house, while the thousands of acres of land were farmed. William Sidney Smith was also “instrumental” in bringing the railroad to Yaphank and even served as a Supervisor of Brookhaven, says Russell.
Smith and his wife left the property to their ten children, evenly divided into ten parcels, with one of their children receiving the parcel with the house. Despite not being the oldest child, he received the house because he was the first of their children to be born in the house.
The inheritor of the house had two children, one who served in World War I and died suddenly in 1944; he never married or had children. Their other child, Helen, never married and never had children of her own. She left the property to a cousin in California.
“She did this because her cousin had a son named William Smith,” said Russell, adding that the extended West Coast family knew of the historical connections.
“The name William runs through the Smith family,” said Russell.
Russell says that Helen and her brother used the large Ridge home mostly as a “summer home,” as they had permanent residences in Brooklyn.
The cousin from California came to Long Island in the 1950s to live in the house with his wife and five children. To date, they’re the last Smith family to inhabit the property. After the cousin’s death in 1967, his wife decided to return to California and sold the property to developer Wilbur Breslin. In turn, Breslin gave the Town between twenty and thirty acres of the historic property.
Russell notes that Breslin’s decision to give some of the property to the Town was not contingent on the 1967 sale of the property.
Russell also notes the deep ties the Smith family had within Brookhaven, with properties of the original family ranging from Strongs Neck to Mastic, but a vibrant farming industry kept the focus on central Suffolk County. Property from the original thousands of acres now houses Longwood High School, Middle Island Presbyterian Church, and other notable fixtures around the area.
The Longwood Estate is located at the corner of Longwood Road and Smith Road in Ridge.
