Goat-on-a-boat puppet workshops, tug of war, potato sack races and tea-making demonstrations are all things you’ll find at Hallockville Museum Farm’s 44th Annual Hallockville Country Fair this weekend.
Extra festivities are in order as the Riverhead property celebrates 50 years as a historic site and home to deep-rooted stories, year-round gatherings and fun activities for the entire family.
The genesis of what now is a 28-acre, 19-building site was the Long Island Lighting Company’s proposal to build nuclear power plants along Sound Avenue and north of Hallockville in 1975. At the time, 90-year-old Ella Hallock was living at the Hallock homestead.
Community members — coining themselves Hallockville, Inc. — opposed the plant and worked with local legislators to designate Sound Avenue as a scenic and historic corridor. They gathered at the Naugles Barn for an inaugural cocktail party with permission from LILCO, solidifying their status as an organization.
Thanks to the local group’s steadfast effort, LILCO granted Hallockville, Inc. a 10-year lease for use of the on-property Naugles Barn and Hallock home for $1 a year. Ella, 93 at the time, was granted life estate. A sign went up that read “Hallockville Restoration and Cultural Center with Cooperation of LILCO.”
In 1979, Ella left the homestead when the home’s heating stopped working and the kitchen faucet froze. The local organization negotiated with LILCO for two years, requesting that the lighting company donate the homestead and farmstead. In June 2021, they donated the home and 2.5 acres to Hallockville, Inc.
In 1981, the fall festival tradition that so many North Forkers will enjoy this weekend began.
The Hallock Homestead was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1984. Over the last five decades, what’s now Hallockville Museum Farm grew in acreage and historic landmarks thanks to the donations of houses, barns, shops and other attractions.
“I think it’s really cool that you can travel back in time,” says Heather Johnson, executive director of Hallockville Museum Farm. “If you go to the homestead, which is on the farthest east point of the campus, that was built in the 1760s; the more you travel west, when you get over to the Naugles Barn as well as the Cichanowiczs’ house, those are [from the] 1930s.”
The most recent update was the Naugles Barn renovation and restoration, unveiled earlier this summer at the Hallockville Museum Farm 50th Anniversary Gala.
The historic site also puts on presentations, like the spring 2025 program by Hallockville board member Richard Wines, who wrote the book A Farm Family on Long Island’s North Fork, depicting the lives of the Hallocks and others who were centric to North Fork farming.
All opportunities to learn about the historic site are on display at the fair on Sept. 27 and 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“The Country Fair is almost everything that we do packed into one,” says Johnson.
See the historically accurate animals which would have existed on the Hallocks’ farm, watch a painting dog in action, catch a master beekeeper’s demonstration plus a performance from No Doubt World Famous Monday Night Band at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission is $12 for ages 12 and over, $10 for seniors, veterans and active military members, $8 for children 5 through 12 and free for kids under 4. On Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon, get half off admission in celebration of the 50th anniversary.
