Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, New York, began in 1738 as the Townsend family home and grew from a modest four-room dwelling into a larger house that served both family and business life. During the American Revolution, it stood in British-occupied Long Island, where Queen’s Rangers officers were quartered alongside a family that supported the Patriot cause. Robert Townsend’s role in George Washington’s Culper Ring tied the house to Revolutionary espionage, while Sarah Townsend’s 1779 Valentine from John Graves Simcoe became a notable wartime story. Later remodeled in the Victorian style, the house was restored in the 20th century and opened as a museum in 1953.

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