Raynham Hall Museum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Raynham Hall
|
|
"Townsend House" as it appeared around the time of the American Revolution
|
|
 Location in New York
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 30 W Main St, Oyster Bay, New York |
|---|---|
| Built | 1738 |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001264 |
| Added to NRHP | June 5, 1974 |
Raynham Hall is a historic house located in Oyster Bay, New York. It was once the home of the Townsend family, who were among the first families to settle in Oyster Bay on Long Island. A famous member of this family, Robert Townsend, was a spy for George Washington during the American Revolution, working as part of the secret Culper Ring.
In 1850, a grandson of the original owner renamed the house "Raynham Hall." This name came from the Townsend family's ancestral home in Norfolk, England. Today, the Town of Oyster Bay owns the house, and a group called the Friends of Raynham Hall Museum, Inc. runs it as a public museum. Raynham Hall is recognized as an important historical site. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Town of Oyster Bay Landmark. You can find it at 20 West Main Street in Oyster Bay. There's also a Visitors' Center next door at 30 West Main Street where you can buy tickets and visit the museum shop.
Contents
About Raynham Hall
Raynham Hall was first built in 1738. It started as a small house with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs, and 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-style" shape, which means one side of the roof is longer than the other, like a saltbox.
The house stayed this way until 1851. Then, Solomon Townsend, a later family member, updated it in the fancy Victorian style. He added new things like carpets, decorative wallpaper, and elegant furniture. He also built a central tower with a skylight on the outside and a whole new section to the house. By renaming it "Raynham Hall," Solomon showed off his wealth, which was different from the simpler style of his Quaker ancestors.
In 1941, the Townsend family could no longer afford to keep the house. They gave it to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Oyster Bay. However, maintaining the house was too much work for the DAR. So, the house was eventually given to the Town of Oyster Bay. The town decided that Raynham Hall should continue as a historic home and museum. It now helps people learn about the Colonial and Victorian ways of life of the Townsend family.
Raynham Hall's Story
Early Days Before the Revolution
On May 6, 1738, Samuel Townsend (who lived from 1717 to 1790) bought the property that is now Raynham Hall. 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, so he might have built the original house.
Between 1738 and 1740, Samuel Townsend made the house larger. He expanded it to eight rooms and gave it the "saltbox" shape. Even though the rooms might 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 also served as a Justice of the Peace and Town Clerk. It's possible that one of the front rooms of the house was used as both an office and a store.
During the American Revolutionary War
When the Revolutionary War began, Samuel Townsend supported the Patriots, who wanted independence from Britain. This was even though about half the people in Oyster Bay were Loyalists, meaning they supported the British King. Samuel Townsend became a member of the New York Provincial Congress. This group voted to approve the United States Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.
After the British won the Battle of Long Island in the fall of 1776, the Townsend home became a headquarters for British officers. These officers were part of the Queen's Rangers, a Loyalist military group led by Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe. The Townsend family had to share their home with Simcoe and his officers. At that time, seven members of the Townsend family likely lived at Raynham Hall. This included Samuel, his wife Sarah, and five of their children. Records from 1781 also show that Samuel owned eight enslaved people.
The Townsend family seemed to get along with the British officers in some ways. For example, on Valentine's Day in 1778, Simcoe gave a Valentine to Sally, one of Samuel's daughters. The officers even carved compliments to the sisters on windowpanes. Robert Townsend, another son, secretly worked as a spy for George Washington. Even he felt sad when British Major John André was executed by the Americans.
Raynham Hall is important in national history because of Robert Townsend's spy work. Before the war, Robert helped his father with business. By the late 1770s, he was living and working in Manhattan as a merchant and writer. Because his business connected him with many British officers in the city, Abraham Woodhull, a leader in the New York spy ring, asked Robert to be a spy. Robert agreed, though he was a bit unsure, and became known as "Culper, Jr."
This completed the spy network that sent messages from Manhattan to Setauket, then across the sound to Connecticut, and finally to General George Washington's headquarters. From August 1779 to May 1780, Robert gathered important information about British plans and troop movements for Washington. He stopped for a short time but resumed his work in July. Another cousin from Oyster Bay, Samuel Townsend (1744–1792), also helped the American cause as a captain 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. Sally was the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Stoddard Townsend. The museum believes this letter is the first recorded Valentine's Day letter in America. It was a poem expressing admiration and asking Sally to be his Valentine.
From Homestead to Hall: The Victorian Era
Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, different members of the Townsend family lived at 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 their adult lives at the "Old Homestead," as it was called then. Robert passed away in 1838, and Sally in 1842.
In 1851, Solomon Townsend, Samuel's grandson, bought the house and land from Dr. Seely for $1,300. Solomon completely changed the house. He added a new section at the back, a water tower, and many other Victorian-style features. He then renamed the house Raynham Hall. He named it after a grand estate in Norfolk, England, which belonged to a famous Townshend family. Even though they shared a name, the families were not actually related.
Solomon spent summers in Oyster Bay until 1861, when he moved there permanently from New York City because the Civil War began. Like his father and grandfather, Solomon II was also a merchant. By his early twenties, he had 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 wealthiest men in Oyster Bay.
Following his family's tradition of public service, Solomon II represented New York in the State Legislature. He also served as a delegate to two State Constitutional Conventions. He completed two terms as 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, passed away on February 3, 1895. Their daughter Maria then owned the house and land. Helene Townsend was described as someone who loved her home and family. This helps us imagine the busy Victorian household that must have been at Raynham Hall.
Maria died on March 7, 1908, without leaving a will. Her brothers Maurice and Solomon Samuel were still living in the house. Because of a family disagreement, the courts ordered that the house and land be sold to pay Maria's debts. Edward Nicholl Townsend Jr., Solomon II's grandson, bought the house for $4,800 on October 14, 1912.
The last Townsend to live in Raynham Hall was Maurice, who died in 1927. In 1914, Julia Weeks Cole, with help from her sister, bought Raynham Hall for $100. They wanted to protect 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 continued the tea room.
Six years later, in 1941, Miss Cole officially gave the house to the DAR. However, maintaining Raynham Hall became too difficult for the DAR. In 1947, they decided to offer the building to the Town of Oyster Bay. The town accepted and, with advice from a committee, decided to restore the front of the building to its original 1700s look in the 1950s.
The New York firm of Goodwin and Jaeger led the first restoration. They removed many of Solomon's Victorian additions. The focus of the house and its story shifted back to the Revolutionary War 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. During this time, the front windows were fixed, and the outside of the Colonial saltbox house was redone.
Raynham Hall was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Ghost Stories of Raynham Hall
Stories about ghosts at Raynham Hall go back to the early 1900s. Julia Weeks Cole, who owned the house from 1914 to 1933, wrote about the ghosts in a newspaper article in 1938. She shared a story about a guest who stayed overnight at Raynham Hall. The guest woke up to the sounds of a ghostly white horse and rider outside her window. Miss Coles thought this might have been the ghost of Major John Andre. He visited the house shortly before he was captured and executed during the American Revolution. Other stories connect this ghost to the original Raynham Hall in England, where it is said to appear before a family death.
Another story from Miss Coles' notes involved her sister, Susan Coles Halstead. She saw a ghost coming down the front stairs. She described seeing an elderly man come down, turn towards the dining room, and then disappear. Mrs. Halstead was sure it was Robert Townsend, the Revolutionary War spy. However, the part of the house where she saw him was built 13 years after Robert died in 1838.
Whoever the ghost on the stairs is, they might not be alone. Recent strange events have happened on or near the stairs. A visitor to the museum said she heard the sound of petticoats (a type of skirt) behind her as she walked past the staircase. When she turned, she only saw a part of a figure, dressed in Victorian clothes, moving down the hallway towards the back of the house.
Unexplained noises have also been heard throughout the house. Staff members have heard clear footsteps following them in the front hallway of the Victorian part of the house. Noises have also been heard in the old slave quarters, which are now used for storage. 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 in an area where Samuel Townsend used to relax with his family by the fireplace. From the kitchen, the scent of baking apple pies or cinnamon has been noticed. These are sometimes thought of as welcoming smells from the spirits to visitors. Smells of roses have also been noticed coming from the slave quarters.
Another ghostly resident was first seen in 1999. He was spotted looking into the garden from the servant's entrance at the back of the house. He was described as a man between 20 and 30 years old, with dark curly hair, a beard, a mustache, and wearing a dark coat with brass buttons. It is believed this man might be Michael Conlin, one of the Irish servants who worked for the Townsend family during the Victorian period. However, records from that time were not kept very well, so his name cannot be confirmed.
The main ghost story at the house is about Sally Townsend and her relationship with John Simcoe. It is believed that 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, however, never married and passed away in the house at the age of 82. After her death, the Valentine letter Simcoe had given her was found. It had many creases, suggesting she had read it countless times. Sally's room is in the Colonial part of the house, known as the West Room. Many people have noticed that the temperature in this room is often 5–10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. Some psychics and ghost hunters who have visited the house say they feel a sense of sadness around Sally's presence.
Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay also has a ghostly connection to its namesake in Norfolk, England. The ancestral estate there 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 at that home.
Visiting Raynham Hall
You can visit Raynham Hall from Tuesday to Sunday, between 1 PM and 5 PM. The entrance fee is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, and children under 5 years old can enter for free.
More to Explore
