4 Smithtown colonialists' tales to come to life through historical society's new app

Tales of the struggles of Smithtown's Colonial-era patriots who resisted British occupation more than 200 years ago can come alive today with a new app  unveiled by the town's Historical Society.

The Smithtown Historical Society recently launched the augmented-reality app — an interactive experience  with a real-world environment enhanced by computer-generated elements — that users can download and access through their cellphone while visiting the nonprofit’s home on East Main Street.

The tour requires visitors to download 1776AR, a mobile app created and funded through the Hampton Bays-based Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. Known as Digital Tapestry, it is part of a series of augmented-reality experiences the foundation has created across Long Island.

For the Smithtown experience, the society has created stops around its property, which will feature 3D recreations of four Colonial-era figures from the town’s history: businessman Epenetus Smith, the Rev. Joshua Hartt, farmer William Arthur and Caleb Smith, a patriot who owned what is now known as Caleb Smith State Park.

Priya Kapoor, executive director for the historical society, said the people selected were patriots who either spoke out against British occupation or had interesting stories of how they fought to keep their property or their lives safe during the American Revolution. In one such story, Arthur hid his ducks from British soldiers in a basement to prevent them from being eaten, only to later find the ducks got drunk after consuming wine stored there.

“These are the most outstanding stories that we thought could relay the story of Smithtown and their neighboring areas,” Kapoor said. “Smithtown has six hamlets and these stories involve these six hamlets.”

The app allows people to get a glimpse of how each stop looked back then while stories are narrated by the avatars of the four colonialists.

“It’s about seeing how the property looked at the time. How many houses were there, the kind of greenery and animals, how the river was,” Kapoor said. “The whole scene is set for you so that you can go into this time period through this app and see what was happening.”

Bradley Harris, Smithtown’s town historian, said the people chosen were all interesting figures in Smithtown history. Visitors may be particularly interested to hear about the life of Hartt, a minister of the Smithtown Presbyterian Church, Harris said. Hartt spoke out against the British during that Colonial era, which led to his imprisonment.

“He was put in jail for his beliefs and for what he stood for, I think people would be interested,” Harris said.

Kathryn Curran, executive director of the foundation, said the initiative’s purpose was to lead to sustainability among historical societies on Long Island by helping them attract, engage and entertain younger audiences.

“One of the things that is so engaging for young people, teenagers, specifically, is that these are avatars. They’re not just videos of people talking that show up on your phone. It’s an augmented-reality experience. We thought this would be a way to introduce the historical society to a different kind of storytelling.”