The Southampton History Museum is bringing veterans' uniforms out of its collection for Veterans Day week. Artifacts of Honor, a pop-up exhibition of military memorabilia, personal items and memoirs from Southampton families, is open at the museum's Rogers Mansion campus on Meeting House Lane on select days in November, including Veterans Day itself, Wednesday, November 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

The same week the museum opens a new speaker program, The Distinguished Lecture Series, with a talk on Saturday, November 14 about the New Jersey estate that a Southampton-born patriot sold to Napoleon's older brother.

What is in Artifacts of Honor

The pop-up draws on the museum's own collections to tell the stories of local people who served, from the Civil War forward. Among the pieces on view, according to the museum:

  • The cap of Civil War veteran Alonzo Foster.
  • The uniform of World War I veteran Leland Burnett.
  • The uniform of Noel E. Hare, a staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps in World War II.
  • The uniform of Robert Smith, a chief petty officer in the United States Navy in World War II.
  • The uniform of Reginald H. Korte, a staff sergeant in the United States Army in World War II.

Photographs, memoirs and other personal items fill out the display alongside the uniforms. The museum lists five dates for the pop-up, among them Saturday, November 7, and Wednesday through Friday, November 11 to 13, each from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The full list of dates is on the museum's calendar.

A Southampton patriot and Joseph Bonaparte

The new lecture series begins on Saturday, November 14, from 5 to 6 p.m. at the museum. The first speaker is Dr. Richard Veit, who has led archaeological work at Point Breeze, an early 19th-century estate on the Delaware River in Bordentown, New Jersey.

Point Breeze belonged for a time to Stephen Sayre, who was born in Southampton in 1736 and went on to a career as a merchant, Revolutionary War patriot and figure in international politics. In 1816 Sayre sold the property to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's older brother and the former king of Spain and of Naples. Bonaparte turned it into a country estate with several residences, elaborate gardens, a large art collection and one of the biggest private libraries in the United States at the time.

The museum asks guests to RSVP through the lecture's event page.

The Sayre exhibition runs through January

The lecture ties into the museum's current special exhibition, Stephen Sayre's American Revolution, at the Rogers Mansion Gallery. It traces the life of Sayre (1736 to 1818), whom the museum describes as one of the long overlooked figures of the fight for independence. The exhibition also covers Elias Pelletreau (1726 to 1810), Southampton's patriot silversmith, and the occupation of Southampton by thousands of British troops in 1778 and 1779.

Stephen Sayre's American Revolution is open through January 2, 2027, Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Groups can book a tour through the museum manager.

Free admission, and why

Admission to all of the Southampton History Museum's historic sites and exhibitions is free. The museum credits a Suffolk County Omnibus Grant and funding from the residents of the Southampton Union Free School District for making that possible. Founded in 1898, the museum runs four historic sites, an archives and research center and a thrift shop, and its grounds and gardens are open year round from sunrise to sunset.

How to go

The Southampton History Museum is at 17 Meeting House Lane, Southampton, NY 11968. Artifacts of Honor and the Sayre exhibition are both on view there, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on open days, and the November 14 lecture starts at 5 p.m. For group tours or questions, call 631-283-2494.

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