Politics & Government

West Babylon Celebrates a Flowery History

The Babylon Town Historical Society dedicated a new museum, the Van Bourgondien Farm House, a symbol of the hamlet's agrarian past.

The Babylon Town Historical Society celebrated the grand opening of the Van Bourgondien Farm House Museum in West Babylon. The home, an emblem of the area's history in tulip bulb cultivation, is owned by Suffolk County, which contracted the town's historical society to develop and maintain the museum to portray a slice of the hamlet's history.

Between the 1920s and 1960s, when the Van Bourgondien family's 36-acre farm became Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church and Van Bourgondien County Park, the Dutch tulip bulb industry flourished. Tulip parades and festivals were popular, and this year's parade and fair hosted by Our Lady of Grace church was a nod to those bygone celebrations.

Students from West Babylon High School's Grandma's Attic Committee program helped collect and curate historic objects from the period that were on display in the museum. President of the Babylon Town Historical Society Thomas B. Smith noted in the Babylon Town History Gazette newsletter that continuation of the vision for the museum, including restoring the structure, developing exhibits and landscaping of ground, is still a work in progress and depends on the effort of current and future volunteers.

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