Bellport Community Center becomes home for Revolutionary history

The Village of Bellport celebrated New York State’s Revolutionary history with a traveling exhibit last week.

“We want to commemorate the 250th anniversary of our country’s birth and we are very fortunate to have this traveling exhibit from the New York State museum,” said Bellport Village mayor Maureen Veitch, noting trustee Lorraine Kuehn was responsible for bringing it to the village. “The exhibit is traveling through New York State, and Bellport was the first village to ask for it.”

Items on display included historical objects from state collections, which were all encased with alarms and temperature-control thermometers.

For three days, Aug. 10, 11 and 12, the Bellport Community Center was open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., displaying Revolutionary War items from New York State Parks, Recreation and Historical Preservation. Participants were also able to go next door to visit the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Museum to explore the gallery’s “Before the Revolution,” an exhibit on pre-Revolutionary Long Island. Also, on the last day, the historic Bellport Fire Department Museum was open on Bell Street for fire department memorabilia.

On Monday, Aug. 10, Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine visited as the village’s guest to celebrate the opening of the traveling museum in honor of America’s 250th anniversary.

“Suffolk 250 this summer has successfully engaged residents of all ages and brought our region’s colonial history alive that helped shape the foundation of our great country,” said Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine. “The ‘Revisit the Revolution’ exhibit is another opportunity for our residents to learn about the American Revolution, and I encourage our residents to visit the Bellport Community Center to see rare artifacts from the time period,” said Romaine, who is also a retired history teacher.