Raynham Hall Museum Reopens July 4 With Free Admission, Concert

OYSTER BAY, NY — After more than a year of renovations and coronavirus-related shutdowns, Raynham Hall Museum is preparing to reopen to the public.

"We took the opportunity to shut down, to regroup, and to re-imagine what the museum could be," Harriet Gerard Clark, the museum's executive director, told Patch. "And we now present our newly-completed exhibition and education center, and several newly-interpreted rooms in our historic museum building."

Aptly timed to open on Independence Day, the museum was once the home of Samuel Townsend, a spy for George Washington during the American Revolution. Townsend, who was also a prominent merchant in Oyster Bay, had to give much of his home to the Redcoats during the war.

To celebrate the reopening, Raynham Hall will host an inaugural event with free admission and a free concert by the Oyster Bay Music Festival. In addition, the museum will host small group tours of the new education center.

On the tour, visitors will see a diorama of Oyster Bay in May of 1779 — when the British destroyed Townsend's orchard to build a fort on what is now known as Fort Hill. Visitors can also check out "Digital Tapestry," a new smartphone-based augmented reality app that showcases animated 18th-century-style portraits and other special effects.

The revamped museum and new education center were funded in part by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the Town of Oyster Bay, and The Gerry Charitable Trust.