August 2019
I needed to relax – and found myself in my favorite place, Stony Brook Village! The weather has begun to change and soon I know we will be surrounded by falling leaves, the sight of pumpkins and the smell of apple cider!
My last visit to the village was certainly an interesting one! I happened to overhear the most fascinating conversation about the upcoming event – Courageous Women of the American Revolution…here’s the scoop:
On Saturday September 28th, guides dressed in colonial period attire invite you aboard trolleys at the Educational and Cultural Center to step back in time and ask yourself – What about the women? For the first time ever, the Hawkins-Mount House, the Brewster House, the Thompson House, and the Stony Brook Grist Mill will be open to the public at the same time! At each location, there will be a performance of a woman who stood proudly in the face of the red coat invasion during the American Revolution.
In Stony Brook’s Mount-Hawkins House, you will meet Ruth Mills – wife of merchant and Culper Spy Ring member Jonas Hawkins. Knowing about her husband’s treasonous choice to go against the British crown, Ruth chooses to stay strong for her family and keep her husband’s secret all the while managing the family general store and keeping up the appearance of obedience to the crown. 
At the Stony Brook Grist Mill, indentured servant on the run Katie scavenges for food. Her story includes the horrors of the British overrunning colonist’ houses – stealing belongings, 
food and the livelihood of the people who lived there. Katie is tired of being told what to do, where to go and who to be…and she’s ready to fight back against the red coats who have taken everything from her.
Phoebe Thompson, wife of the patriot and doctor Samuel Thompson has been struck ill during war time. She values her husband’s medical experience but can’t help but disagree with his diagnosis and treatment and instead follows her own intuition and attempts to solve her sickness all the while coming to terms with her own mortality.
The Brewster House – the oldest house in the town of Brookhaven, will have proprietor Rebecca Mills Brewster, wife of Joseph Brewster, cousin of Culper Spy Ring member Caleb Brewster. With her fear of the British and what they are capable of doing to her and her family, Rebecca does what she does best – serves them their libations, listens to their conversation and steal their weaponry.
It’s so incredible that these brave women were once members of the community 
and played a part in making Long Island what it is today. In fact, rumor has it that the Mirabelle at Three Village Inn (c.1751), the Country House (c. 1710), Crazy Beans, Sweet Mama’s, Pentimento, Fratelli’s, Robinson’s Tea Room are even planning on serving special menus in celebration of the event!
Some people were even talking about a special package that the Three Village Inn has: if you arrive on Friday night, you get three days and two nights at the Inn (which was known as the Old Homestead during the Revolutionary War), breakfast every morning, welcome drinks, 
tickets to both the Courageous Women of the Revolutionary War Trolley Tour and the Journey Through Time exhibit at the Educational and Cultural Center, plus a Stony Brook Village Courtesy Card!
Ciao for now!
– Suzie Q
