Announcements

Whaling exhibit on display

By Rachel Young

 

COURTESY PHOTO | A scrimshaw — whalebone, ivory, shell or other material with adorned carvings — from the 1800s.
COURTESY PHOTO | A scrimshaw — whalebone, ivory, shell or other material with adorned carvings — from the 1800s.

An exhibition featuring whaling artifacts associated with an iconic Greenport mansion is now on display at Southold Historical Society.

“Brecknock Hall and Whaling” will be on view Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. through Feb. 6 in the society’s Reichert Family Center’s Cosden Price Gallery on Main Road in Southold.

According to the historical society, David Gelston Floyd — who built Brecknock Hall on Route 48 and lived from 1802 to 1893 — was a businessman invested in commercial whaling. His three ships sailed out of Greenport harbor during the so-called Golden Age of Whaling, from 1845 to 1861.

Beginning with the Manhasset Native Americans in the 1700s, Greenport has established a reputation as a whaling port. The practice was banned in the United States in 1986. In October, Peconic Landing in Greenport hosted a lecture about the village’s maritime history.

For additional hours and more information, call the Southold Historical Society at 631-765-5000.

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