History comes to life for Port Jefferson Middle School students
History came to life for Port Jefferson Middle School seventh-grade
students when they learned how Port Jefferson played an integral role in
a Revolutionary War spy ring working for George Washington.
Historian and curator Georgette Grier-Key and Port Jefferson Village
Mayor Margo Garant engaged the students in the rich history of the
Village, only yards away from their school’s entrance. Throughout their
conversations, the pair shared how Main Street was officially designated
by New York State as part of the Washington Spy Trail – well-known
locally as the Culper Spy Ring – and considered America’s first
espionage group. Additionally, they shared information about the
centuries-old Roe House, which displays a letter from Washington
thanking the members of the Spy Ring and a map that details the trail
they traveled to send messages from Connecticut across the Long Island
Sound into Port Jefferson and then into Manhattan.
“The students are learning about this time period during class and had
the unique opportunity to connect textbook learning to an authentic,
interactive experience allowing for the synthesis of knowledge,” said
seventh-grade teacher Monica Consalvo, who organized the learning
program.