Patchogue-Medford Area Historic Images
Portrait of Austin Roe, ca. 1775-1783
Artist's rendering of Austin Roe, Setauket, NY, tavern owner, who risked his life, repeatedly, during the American Revolution, as part of the Culper Spy Ring. After the Battle of Long Island, following Nathan Hale's capture and death, Washington needed eyes and ears behind enemy lines. On the pretext of needing supplies for his tavern, Austin Roe carried coded messages in invisible ink (well-hidden within a ream of writing paper) between the Culpers; in New York City (British Headquarters, North America) and Setauket (usually Tory-occupied). After the war, on April 22, 1790, during a whilrwind tour of L.I., escaping the pressures of the new national capital (at New York), the still recently-elected President George Washington, yes, actually slept at Roe's Tavern. In 1796, Roe sold his Setauket tavern (which still stands, and is in private hands, though moved from its original location), establishing a new Roe Tavern in Patchogue, at the N.E. corner of Main St. and Ocean Ave.. It quickly became a popular inn, watering hole, stagecoach and mail-route stop, the forebear of Roes Hotel (that burned to the ground in the 1930's). Austin Roe, like the other members of the Culper Ring, kept his former espionage activities to himself, to the grave. The Ring's (and his) activities and role in the Revolutiuon would only come to light again in the 1920's, and has since fuled books, discussion, lectures, and occassional debate, to this day. It may be that the spy ring's secrecy was kept in case their services might be needed again, at a later date, by their still fledgling country, and that kind of commitment deserves high praise and recognition. [See also Paul Bailey's poem, The Midnight Rides of Austin Roe, Long Island Forum, v. 8 (2) Feb. 1945: p. 24.]
Portrait of Austin Roe, ca. 1775-1783
Artist's rendering of Austin Roe, Setauket, NY, tavern owner, who risked his life, repeatedly, during the American Revolution, as part of the Culper Spy Ring. After the Battle of Long Island, following Nathan Hale's capture and death, Washington needed eyes and ears behind enemy lines. On the pretext of needing supplies for his tavern, Austin Roe carried coded messages in invisible ink (well-hidden within a ream of writing paper) between the Culpers; in New York City (British Headquarters, North America) and Setauket (usually Tory-occupied). After the war, on April 22, 1790, during a whilrwind tour of L.I., escaping the pressures of the new national capital (at New York), the still recently-elected President George Washington, yes, actually slept at Roe's Tavern. In 1796, Roe sold his Setauket tavern (which still stands, and is in private hands, though moved from its original location), establishing a new Roe Tavern in Patchogue, at the N.E. corner of Main St. and Ocean Ave.. It quickly became a popular inn, watering hole, stagecoach and mail-route stop, the forebear of Roes Hotel (that burned to the ground in the 1930's). Austin Roe, like the other members of the Culper Ring, kept his former espionage activities to himself, to the grave. The Ring's (and his) activities and role in the Revolutiuon would only come to light again in the 1920's, and has since fuled books, discussion, lectures, and occassional debate, to this day. It may be that the spy ring's secrecy was kept in case their services might be needed again, at a later date, by their still fledgling country, and that kind of commitment deserves high praise and recognition. [See also Paul Bailey's poem, The Midnight Rides of Austin Roe, Long Island Forum, v. 8 (2) Feb. 1945: p. 24.]