The Tuthill House Museum
In 1991 The Westhampton Beach Historical Society relocated a donated circa 1840 house to a site on Westhampton Beach’s historic Mill Road. Josiah Tuthill built the house in 1840, a grandson of John Tuthill who came gram Southold about 1760 to become a first settler of Speonk, later renamed Remsenburg. The house was located on South County Road, a wide avenue made truly beautiful by lovely Colonial and Victorian homes fronted by white picket fences and stately trees,In the mid to late 1899′s the house served as the local post office and gathering spot, with Josiah Tuthill’s son, Gilbert, acting as Postmaster.
In 1954 the house was sold and floated by bay to a Foster Lane, Quiogue site.
In 1991, once again the quaint old farmhouse was on the move—this time to a site on Mill Road.
With dedication, commitment and community support, the Historical Society opened the totally renovated house-museum to the public in 1995.
Thurston Raynor Milk House
Located on the grounds of the Tuthill House Museum, the Thurston Raynor Milk House was once a part of the Thurston Raynor Homestead that was located on the southeast corner of South Road and Apaucuck Pont Road in Westhampton.
The homestead was named for Thurston Herrick Raynor, who operated a dairy farm at the site and died without family heirs in 1961, the last of five generations of Raynors to have lived at the homestead; the homestead is believed to have originally been constructed by Nathan Raynor in the mid 1700′s.
During Thurston’s time the milk house building contained a cream separator. Surplus milk was carried from the barns across Apaucuck Point road to the milk house, The milk was treated in the separator, which initially was hand cranked and later operated with an electric motor. The cellar beneath the milk house was used to store the ice packed in salt hay or seaweed to keep the cream cool. Thurston Raynor had a milk route, mostly in Culvertown (Baycrest road area in Westhampton), where he delivered milk and cream via horse-drawn Buggy.
Davis Brothers Engineering moved the Milk House to its current location in August 2005.
The Meeker House Carriage House and Privy
In 2008 Walter Goldstein donated a carriage house and privy to the Historical Society. The structure stood behind the Foster-Meeker House on Main Street, Westhampton Beach and was moved to its present location next to the Thurston Raynor Milk House at 101 Mill Road. The original structure dates from about 1845 and was most likely used as a small barn and two-seater privy. The restoration was completed in 2009 and the Meeker House Carriage House now houses the Society’s permanent collection of farm tools and an Amish courting carriage donated by the Bauer family. The two-seater privy is an excellent example of historic sanitary waste management practices!
The Foster Meeker House – An Education Center For All Ages
Part of our mission is to preserve the history of the area and to educate people of all ages about our past. To that end we have undertaken the restoration of the Foster-Meeker House, the oldest home in Westhampton Beach, built around 1735.
