The East Hampton Historical Society has been awarded a $125,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation to “support an innovative digital technology program to educate the community about the history of the American Revolution in East Hampton,” according to the society.
In a release, the society’s executive director, Steve Long, said that “because Long Island was occupied for most of the Revolutionary War, it has been largely marginalized in narratives about the American Revolution.” The grant will allow the society “to explore how our community was deeply engaged in the nation’s founding.”
The society will join other historical sites on the Island that are “interpreting the American Revolution as part of the Gardiner Foundation’s Digital Tapestry Initiative.”
It has contracted with 360XR, an interactive technology development company, to develop an augmented reality program centered on Mulford Farm on James Lane during the Revolution.
“Visitors will be able to tour the property using a mobile app and learn about Col. David Mulford, one of East Hampton’s leading patriots in the 1770s,” the society said. “In addition to commanding a regiment in the colonial militia, Mulford’s eldest sons fought in the Battle of Long Island.”
Colonel Mulford was also one of the East End’s largest slaveholders, and the Digital Tapestry Program will teach visitors about “how the development of American freedom and slavery are inextricably linked.”
