Local history

The iconic carriage house (circa 1873) stands on what was once the homestead of the John R. Perkins family. Known as the Yellow Barn, it houses a used bookstore operated by Friends of the Riverhead Free Library.

Riverhead native Nick May always admired the iconic 'Tin Man' water tower — the water district's original storage tank. He's restored its commemorative plaque, marking the occasion of its completion in 1915.

When Prohibition took effect this week in 1920, Riverhead (pop. 5,753) was ahead of the curve. Home to the first Suffolk chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, established in 1878, Riverhead was already — sort of — dry.

Master Gardener Volunteers transformed a desolate, neglected courtyard where the county gallows once stood into a tranquil place of beauty.

The Riverhead Elks Lodge was built as the clubhouse at Riverhead's first golf course.

A postcard mailed in Riverhead in 1908 found its way to Riverhead Town Hall, by way of California, where an elderly man who makes a hobby out of sending old postcards 'home' hopes to 'redistribute' happiness.

county began as the East Riding of Yorkshire and, he said, “from there morphed into” Suffolk County in 1683, one of the 12 original counties in the Province of New York, and even after independence and the province becoming a state, Suffolk was “the only county never to be subdivided.”

Main Road Historic Resource Survey
Riverhead, New York

Sponsored by
Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission
200 Howell Avenue,
Riverhead, NY 11947

Prepared by
Richard Wines, Ph.D., Chair
Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission

Photography by Cliff Baldwin

The Iron Pier in Northville was built in 1899-1900 by local farmers looking to transport produce by ship to New England.