Village Announcement, Large Crowd Mark Elizabeth Kaplan's Visit to Farmingdale

Historian and art speaker Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan took the stage at on Feb. 27 to share her lecture "Nine First Ladies of New York State" with a large crowd of Farmingdale residents and members of the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society.

The event, which included photographs and a question and answer session, was sponsored by the Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society and the New York Council for the Humanities. Kaplan spoke the history of the first ladies that grew up in New York state in her interactive lecture. Some well-known woman included Jackie Onassis, Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan.

Before the lecture, Farmingdale Deputy Mayor and  Patricia Christiansen unveiled the plan for a new Civil War memorial that will be placed in Village Green and the blueprints of the reconstruction of the Veterans Memorial Walkway located outside of the Village Hall. Both will be officially revealed on May 30.

"Once completed the monuments will be placed in chronological order," Christiansen said. "We have a lot to do in the next month but as a village board, we are excited about doing it."

Vice President of the Historical Society, Jim McCullagh, was thrilled with the large number of guests at the event. "It is gratifying to see a large turnout. There appears to be a large interest in history and that is great," McCullagh said.

Farmingdale-Bethpage Historical Society Trustee William Johnston announced that the next guest lecturer will be Geoffrey Fleming and he will discuss the history of painters on Long Island. This event will take place on Mar. 27 at 2 p.m. in the Village Hall.

To attend a future lecture by Elizabeth Kaplan, visit www.nyhumanities.org for her event schedule.