5. Strong’s Neck: Abraham Woodhull’s House

Photo: Antony Platt/AMC

Strong’s Neck plays a key role in the Culper Spy Ring. According to local folklore (and Strong family history), Anna Strong would hang a black petticoat from a clothesline as a signal to Abraham Woodhull when Caleb Brewster would arrive from Connecticut. Handkerchiefs also gave additional clues.
Unlike the film, Anna Strong didn’t live in Strong Manor during the war because of the solders quartered there, but lived in a small cottage on Little Bay across from Abraham Woodhull’s house. Woodhull’s house burned down in 1931, but its bricks were used to make his memorial at the Presbyterian Church. In the film, Woodhull’s house resembles the architecture of the Thompson House in Setauket (open for tours) rather than the more classic American style home it actually was–this choice is likely to make the home seem more like a farmstead.

Thompson House