Suffolk County

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Selah Hulse Land Deed

Authored by Nicole Castellano

Selah Hulse Land Deed to Benjamin Flyde. Two page deed written in 1775.

Selah Hulse Land Deed (April 28, 1775), Brookhaven Land Transaction Between Selah Hulse and Benjamin Flyde, Courtesy Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries

Selah Hulse (abt. 1715-1775 or abt. 1757-date unknown) is the owner of the piece of land in Brookhaven, Suffolk County that is being signed away in this land deed, which was written on April 28, 1775. This land was originally owned by Ebenezer Hulse (Hoff 2001, 10), who may be directly related to Selah Hulse, possibly being his father or his uncle (Deitz and Lythgoe 2011). Selah Hulse is giving this land to a man named Benjamin Flyde, who, during the time of the Revolutionary War, was a loyalist (Hull, Hoffer, and Allen 2018). While Selah Hulse himself is not mentioned to be involved with the American Revolution in any way, what is interesting about this land deed is that, while Benjamin Flyde is a loyalist, it is signed by two people who are related to the Culper Spy Ring, which is George Washington’s group of spies that would inform on the British (Bigelow 2018, 2). Continue reading →

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The Northport March

Authored by Julia Sukhu

Illustration of a Grand March

The “Pleading and Practice Grand March” sheet music cover image from the Stony Brook University Archives.

The oddest things can bring a community together. In the case of Northport, a Long Island community, a piece of music made to advertise law books has a special place in the community’s history and brought them together in 2015. This bright and well-maintained illustration is the cover page for the “Pleading and Practice Grand March” sheet music created by George H. Bishop to sell law textbooks in the 1800’s.  Continue reading →

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The Construction of Long Island’s State Parks and Parkways

Authored by Mireille E. Stürmann

An image of a 1929 map of the state parkways and parks on the Western portion of the South Shore of Long Island

State Parkways and Parks of the Western Section of the South Shore of Long Island

Context

In the 1920’s, the concept of leisure was changing. With the assembly line and mass production techniques shaping a new workweek, and the rates of car ownership skyrocketing, the people of New York City had time and mobility previously unknown to the working and middle classes (Caro, 1974, 143-144). Continue reading →