Explore 300 Years Of Bayside's History At Interactive Archive Event

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Baysiders can take a 300-year-long walk down memory lane this week.

The Bayside Historical Society, located at 208 Totten Avenue in Fort Totten Park, is inviting neighbors to an interactive archive event at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Aptly titled "Open Archives Night: The Evolution of Bayside," the event will chart the history of Bayside during the past 300 years through maps, photos, documents and tchotchkes from the historic society's archives.

Neighbors will have a chance to learn about the the names of Bayside's streets, play identification games and share their own photos and images of life in Bayside, organizers said.

The Matinecocks first settled in the area now-known as Bayside and lived undisturbed there until 1637, when the West India Trading Company encouraged Dutch farmers to settle the land.

William Lawrence is credited as the first of those settlers, building a stone farmhouse in the neighborhood in 1644. His family cemetery remains in Bayside.

In 1683, when Queens County was officially established, Bayside was within the Town of Flushing — then considered a rural farming area, which became increasingly residential throughout the 1900s.

The Bayside Historical Society's archive night will explore this history, and more, including the development of nearby northeast Queens communities.

Entry to the two-hour event is free for the society's members, but costs $5 per-person for non-members.

Find out more about the event, and RSVP, here.