Southold Historical Museum's 2023 Winter Lecture Series Digs into Farming

By Oliver Peterson

3 minute 01/04/2023

Wickham Farm is the subject of Southold Historical Society's first talk in the 2023 Winter Lecture Series — Wickham Farm is the subject of Southold Historical Society’s first talk in the 2023 Winter Lecture Series

Southold Historical Museum is launching its 2023 Winter Lecture Series with a return to an in-person format this year and a “Local Farming Through the Years” theme.

Along with fishing, farming is among the most notable industries from Southold Town’s history as the fertile land and access to the sea for shipping made Southold an ideal agricultural site.

The Winter Lecture Series will highlight this important legacy, which continues today at various local farms — which provide for the thriving North Fork culinary and restaurant scene — and, of course, at the flourishing vineyards and wineries.

Southold Historical Museum's 2019 Winter Lecture Series at Peconic Landing — Southold Historical Museum’s 2019 Winter Lecture Series at Peconic LandingCourtesy SHM

The first lecture, “The Wickham Family’s Farming Tradition,” will take place at the Southold Town Recreation Center in Peconic (970 Peconic Lane) on Wednesday, January 18 at 4 p.m. Guest speaker Tom Wickham will share his family’s long farming heritage dating as far back as the 1600s.

The Wickhams have been farming continually for many generations, even as the agricultural trade has transformed through the centuries.

A former Southold Town Supervisor and a trained research scientist, Tom Wickham and his family own Wickham’s Fruit Farm in Cutchogue.

“The theme for this year’s Winter Lecture Series is such a natural fit as so many of us have fallen in love with the farmland that surrounds us. These talks, some of which will be presented by active farmers, offer a unique opportunity to understand this vital part of our history,” Southold Historical Museum Executive Director Deanna Witte-Walker says in an announcement for the lecture series, also noting her gratitude to participating speakers and NOFO Real Estate, which is sponsoring the program.

The Winter Lecture Series is free and open to the public. Programs such this and others like it support the Southold Historical Museum‘s mission to promote interest in and education about local history.

Up Next at Southold Historical Museum

The “Local Farming through the Years” Lecture series continues in February (date to be decided) with Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski, a fifth-generation farmer and owner of Krupski’s Pumpkin Farm in Peconic.