Seniors Search Out Old Bethpage

 I came across the name of Old Bethpage in a recent travel magazine and thought the name worthy of a visit. Senior travelers will find that Old Bethpage is a hamlet located on Long Island in the Town of Oyster Bay, New York. The population was 5,523 at the 2010 census.

In 1695 Thomas Powell purchased around 10,000 acres and called his land Bethphage, because it was situated between two other places on Long Island, Jericho and Jerusalem, just as the biblical town of Bethphage (meaning “house of figs”) was situated between Jericho and Jerusalem.

Old Bethpage is home to the Old Bethpage Village Restoration (OBVR). Opened in 1963, on a former Powell family farm, the restoration is an authentic pre-Civil War recreation of a mid-19th century Long Island village.

Seniors Enjoy Restored Village

The complex includes farmhouses, a blacksmith, general store, cobbler, school house and churches, all of which were moved to the site from other locations on Long Island and then restored to period condition. Senior visitors will have the unique opportunity to step back in time and experience life as it was on Long Island during the 19th century.

The village consists of 36 houses, barns, and a total of 55  historic buildings on a 209-acre plot dating from 1765 through 1865. Representing a typical rural Long Island farm village of the time, its roots are in Dutch and English settlements on Long Island.

As of 2007 the village has opened a Restoration Farm that grows produce available for sale to the public through the villages farm stand in the parking lot.

Reminds me a lot of our family visit to Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts that is a 17th-Century English Village re-creation of the small farming and maritime community built by the Pilgrims along the shore of Plymouth Harbor.

Seniors Invited To Take A Field Trip

See what’s happening in and around Old Bethpage Long Island and plan to take in some of the major events. Take a “senior field trip” to Old Bethpage that today features special seasonal activities, such as an 1880’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration in March, Sheep Shearing in May, Civil War Battle in July, and the Fall Harvest in September, the month of the Long Island Fair — one of the state’s oldest agricultural expositions.

Can’t go wrong in Old Bethpage. TripAdvisor suggests that visitors not miss the two major attractions in Old Bethpage, the Old Bethpage Village Restoration and the Museum of American Armor.

Discover the history behind World War II military armor at the Museum of American Armor and learn all about the armor used by the US military. Senior visitors find plenty to keep them occupied in Old Bethpage. -jeb