Raynham Hall Museum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Raynham Hall
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"Townsend House" as it appeared around the time of the American Revolution
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 30 W Main St, Oyster Bay, New York |
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| Built | 1738 |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001264 |
| Added to NRHP | June 5, 1974 |
Raynham Hall is a historic house in Oyster Bay, New York. It was once the home of the Townsend family, one of the first families to settle in Oyster Bay. A famous member of this family, Robert Townsend, was a spy for George Washington during the American Revolution. He was part of a secret group called the Culper Ring.
In 1850, a grandson of the original owner renamed the house "Raynham Hall." This name came from the Townsend family's large estate in Norfolk, England. Today, the Town of Oyster Bay owns the house. It is run as a public museum by the Friends of Raynham Hall Museum, Inc. Raynham Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a Town of Oyster Bay Landmark and a stop on the Oyster Bay History Walk audio tour. You can find it at 20 West Main Street in Oyster Bay. A new Visitors' Center is next door at 30 West Main Street. Here, you can buy tickets for tours and visit the museum shop.
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About Raynham Hall
Raynham Hall was built in 1738. It started as a small house with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs. It had a large chimney in the middle. When Samuel Townsend bought the house, he made it bigger. He added four more rooms, giving it a "saltbox" shape. This style has a long, sloping roof at the back.
The house stayed this way until 1851. Then, Solomon Townsend, a later family member, changed it to the Victorian style. He added fancy carpets, decorated wallpaper, and beautiful furniture. He also built a central tower with a skylight and a whole new section. By renaming it "Raynham Hall," Solomon showed off his wealth. This was different from his Quaker relatives, who lived more simply.
In 1941, the Townsend family could no longer afford the house. They gave it to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). But keeping up the house was too much work for the DAR. So, they gave it to the Town of Oyster Bay. The town decided that Raynham Hall should become a historic home and museum. It would show what life was like for the Townsend family during the Colonial and Victorian times.
Raynham Hall's Story
Before the Revolution
On May 6, 1738, Samuel Townsend (1717–1790) bought the property. He paid 70 pounds for it. At that time, the house had four rooms and a big central chimney. The person who sold it, Thomas Weedon, was a carpenter. He might have built the original house.
Between 1738 and 1740, Samuel Townsend made the house larger. He expanded it to eight rooms. Even though the rooms seem small to us today, the house was quite big for the 1700s. Samuel Townsend was a merchant, meaning he bought and sold goods. He was also a Justice of the Peace and Town Clerk. One of the front rooms in the house might have been used as his office and a store.
During the War
When the American Revolution began, Samuel Townsend supported the Patriots. This was even though about half the people in Oyster Bay were Loyalists, who supported the British. Samuel Townsend became a member of the New York Provincial Congress. This group voted to approve the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.
After the Patriots lost the Battle of Long Island in 1776, the Townsend home became a headquarters for the British. The Loyalist Queen's Rangers, led by British Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe, stayed there. The Townsend family had to let them in, as resisting a British officer could mean prison or death. At this time, seven Townsend family members lived at Raynham Hall. This included Samuel, his wife Sarah, and five children. Records from 1781 also show that Samuel owned eight enslaved people.
Even with the British officers living there, the family seemed to get along with them. For example, on Valentine's Day in 1778, Lt. Col. Simcoe gave a Valentine to Sally Townsend, one of Samuel's daughters. Soldiers also wrote compliments on the windowpanes for two of the sisters. Even Robert Townsend, who was a spy for General Washington, felt sad when Major Andre, a British officer, died.
Raynham Hall is important in national history because of Robert Townsend. Before the war, Robert helped his father with business. By the late 1770s, he lived and worked in Manhattan as a merchant and writer. Because his work brought him close to many British officers, Abraham Woodhull asked him to be a spy. Woodhull was known as "Culper, Sr." in the New York spy ring. Robert agreed, though he was a bit unsure. He became "Culper, Jr." This completed the spy network that sent messages from Manhattan to Setauket, across the sound to Connecticut, and then to General George Washington's headquarters.
From August 1779 to May 1780, Robert gave George Washington important information. This included British plans and troop movements. In May 1780, Culper, Jr. stopped working suddenly, but he started again in July. Another cousin from Oyster Bay, Samuel Townsend (1744–1792), also helped the American cause. He was a captain and Paymaster in the New York 5th Regiment.
The Valentine Letter
In the winter of 1779, Lieutenant Colonel John Simcoe gave a Valentine's Day letter to Sarah 'Sally' Townsend. She was the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Stoddard Townsend. The museum says this letter is the first recorded Valentine's Day letter in America. The poem in the letter showed his admiration for Sally.
From Homestead to Hall: The Victorian Era
Through the 1700s and 1800s, different Townsend family members lived in Raynham Hall. Phebe Townsend married Dr. Ebenezer Seely in 1808. Dr. Seely became the owner of the house in 1812. Robert and his sister, Sally, lived there their whole adult lives. Robert died in 1838, and Sally died in 1842.
In 1851, Solomon Townsend, Samuel's grandson, bought the house from Dr. Seely. He paid $1,300 for it. Solomon completely changed the house. He added a back wing, a water tower, and many other Victorian-style features. He then renamed the house Raynham Hall. This was after the famous Townshend family's large estate in Norfolk, England. Even though they shared a similar name, the families were not related.
Solomon spent summers in Oyster Bay until 1861. Then, he moved there permanently when the Civil War started. Like his father and grandfather, Solomon II was also a merchant. By his early twenties, he started his own business. In 1849, he married his first cousin, Helene DeKay. They had six children, five boys and one girl, who all grew up in Raynham Hall. By 1860, he was one of the richest men in Oyster Bay.
Solomon II also followed his family's tradition of public service. He represented New York in the State Legislature. He also served as a Commissioner of Education in New York City. After returning to Oyster Bay, he became president of the Oyster Bay Board of Education.
Raynham Hall Becomes a Museum
Solomon died on April 2, 1880. His wife, Helene, died in 1895. Their daughter Maria then owned the house. Maria died in 1908 without a will. Her brothers, Maurice and Solomon Samuel, were still living in the house. Because of a family disagreement, the courts ordered the house to be sold to pay Maria's debts. Edward Nicholl Townsend Jr., Solomon II's grandson, bought the house for $4,800 in 1912.
The last Townsend to live in Raynham Hall was Maurice. He died in 1927. In 1914, Julia Weeks Cole, with help from her sister Sallie Townsend Coles Halstead, bought Raynham Hall for $100. They wanted to save it from being changed. During their time, it was used as a tea room and a meeting place for the Oyster Bay Historical Society. In 1933, Miss Coles gave the house to the Oyster Bay Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR kept the house open to the public and ran the Raynham Hall Tea Room.
Six years later, keeping up Raynham Hall became too difficult for the DAR. They decided to offer the building to the Town of Oyster Bay. The Town accepted the offer in 1947. With advice from a committee, they decided to restore the front of the building to its original 1700s look in the 1950s.
The New York firm of Goodwin and Jaeger started the restoration. They removed many of Solomon's Victorian additions. The focus of the house and its story went back to the Revolutionary period. In 1953, with help from the Friends of Raynham Hall, Inc., the building officially opened as a museum. The last restoration was finished in 1958. This included fixing the front windows and the outside siding of the Colonial saltbox house.
Raynham Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Mysteries and Legends
Stories about ghosts at Raynham Hall began in the early 1900s. Julia Weeks Cole, who owned the house from 1914 to 1933, wrote about them in a newspaper article in 1938. She told a story about a guest who woke up to the sound of a ghostly white horse and rider outside her window. Miss Coles thought this might be the ghost of Major John Andre. He was a British officer who visited the house before he was captured and executed during the American Revolution. Other stories connect this ghost to the original Raynham Hall in England. There, it is said to appear before a family death.
Another story from Miss Coles' files was about her sister, Susan Coles Halstead. She saw a ghost coming down the front stairs. She described an elderly man who went down the stairs, turned towards the dining room, and then vanished. Mrs. Halstead was sure it was Robert Townsend, the Revolutionary War spy. However, the part of the house where she saw him was built after Robert died in 1838.
Whoever the ghost on the stairs is, they might not be alone. Recent strange events have happened near the stairs. A visitor claimed to hear the swish of skirts behind her near the staircase. She turned and saw part of a figure dressed in Victorian clothes. It walked past her down the hallway towards the back of the house.
Unexplained noises have also been heard throughout the house. Staff members have heard footsteps following them in the front hallway of the Victorian part of the house. Noises have also been heard in the storage area, which was once used by enslaved people. Several strange smells have been noticed too. On the first floor of the Colonial section, staff and visitors have smelled pipe tobacco and wood smoke. This is where Samuel Townsend used to relax by the fireplace with his pipe. From the kitchen, the smell of apple pies baking or cinnamon has been noticed. These are sometimes seen as welcoming smells from the spirits. Smells of roses have also been noticed coming from the storage area.
Another ghostly resident appeared in 1999. He was first seen looking into the garden from the back entrance. He was described as a man between 20 and 30 years old, with dark curly hair, a beard, and a mustache. He wore a dark coat with brass buttons. People believe this man is Michael Conlin, one of the Irish servants who worked for the Townsend family during the Victorian period. However, records from that time are not very clear, so his name cannot be confirmed.
The main ghost story at the house is about Sally Townsend and John Simcoe. People believe Sally fell in love with Colonel Simcoe when he stayed at the house during the Revolutionary War. But when the war ended, Simcoe went back to England and got married. Sally never married and died in the house at age 82. After she died, the Valentine letter Simcoe had given her was found. It had many creases, as if it had been read countless times. Sally's room, called the West Room, is in the Colonial part of the house. Many people have noticed that this room is colder than the rest of the house, usually by 5–10 degrees. Some psychics and ghost hunters have visited the house and felt a sense of sadness around Sally's presence.
Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay also has a ghostly link to its namesake in Norfolk, England. The original Raynham Hall is said to be haunted by "The Brown Lady." She was first photographed in 1938 as a misty figure going down the staircase. The Brown Lady has been seen many times since then, along with other spirits in that home.
Visiting Raynham Hall
You can visit Raynham Hall Tuesday through Sunday, from 1 PM to 5 PM. The fee is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and students. Children under 5 years old are free.
See also
