Village House - Oysterponds Historical Society
Introduction
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Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Amy Folk.
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Images
Village House c2018
Backstory and Context
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Listen to a narration of this entry's description by Amy Folk.
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The original single story house was constructed in 1798. Augustus Griffin who owned the structure not only used it as his family’s home but also in 1808 he opened a store and in the following years established a tavern. By 1820 he converted the northern portion of his store into a school. In 1832 he added a second story to the original home. Five years later he closed the tavern. Seeking to retire, Griffin wound down his business operation. The home was then sold to Samuel Gilston Vail in 1853. Vail tripled the size of the house adding a large northern wing, a dining room and kitchen. Calling the building, Village House, it then opened as a summer boarding house, run by Vail’s wife Nancy and her daughters. Today the structure is owned by the Oysterponds Historical Society.
Sources
Antiquities, Society for the Preservation of Long Island's. Historic House Inventory - Southold Town. Survey for New York State , unpublished, 1976-1987.
Folk, Amy Kasuga. images of America, Oysterponds, East Marion and Orient. Charlestown, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2015.
Griffin, Augustus. Griffin's Journal. Orient, New York: Privately Published, 1857.
Society, Oysterponds Historical. Historic Orient Village. Orient, New York: Oysterponds Historical Society, 1976.
"Town Historian's Files." Town Historian's Office, Southold, New York , n.d.
Wachsberger, Fredrica. The Diaries of Augustus Griffin 1792-1852. Orient, New York: Oysterponds Historical Society, 2009.
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