Greenwich During the Revolutionary War: A Frontier Town on the Front Line is the current exhibit open to the public at the Greenwich Historical Society.
The exhibit opened on October 16, 2024. It is set to close on March 9, 2025.
However, we have received word that the exhibit has been extended to April.
Bringing to life the experiences of people in Greenwich during the Revolutionary War, this dynamic exhibition presents the stories of Patriots and Loyalists, free and enslaved men and women choosing side and deciding what liberty meant to them.
Original materials from the Revolution belonging to Greenwich Historical Society, as well as other museums and archives, illustrate the experiences of a community on the front line of the American Revolution.
Pictured above is the jacket worn by Obadiah Mead (1759/1762-1779) when he was shot and killed on his family's farm in North Greenwich.
The jacket is in the collections of the Greenwich Historical Society.
Obadiah Mead was wearing this jacket when he was shot and killed by the British in a raid. The bullet hole is still visible where it passed through Obadiah's left arm and into his side, as are the blood stains.
Seventeen-year-old Obadiah Mead lived in Quaker Ridge on his parents farm on the northwestern corner of Riversville Road and Cliffdale Road.
He enlisted in Col. Matthew Mead's company for an expedition to Land Island in January 1776. At the end of the summer, he was serving with the same company in the battles for control of New York City.
By fall, Obadiah Mead was with Captain Matthew Mead's company in Port Chester, New York as part of the reconnoitering mission in the lead up to the Battle of White Plains at the end of October.
According to family history, Obadiah was working at his family's farm in 1779 when Col. James DeLancey's Brigade -a group of local Loyalists who frequently led raids in Greenwich- stormed into the area.
During the raid, Mead tried to hide, but was shot and killed while surrendering.
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| "The Revolutionary House" Benjamin Mead II House, Circa 1728. |
Obadiah's family saved the jacket he was wearing when he was killed, with the blood stains still visible.
Years later it was framed and put on display in "The Revolutionary House," the Benjamin Mead II House (built circa 1728) that still exists on the North Greenwich property today.
Obadiah Mead, along with other members of his branch of the Mead family, is interred in the family cemetery off Cliffdale Road. His interment was very likely the first one, marking the spot where he was killed.
His individual grave is marked with a plain field stone marker -as are others in the cemetery.
After over 50 years of neglect, the cemetery was rediscovered on July 1, 1989.
Its rediscovery, clean-up and restoration led to the founding of Historic Mead Burying Grounds, Inc., formerly The Historic Mead Family Burying Grounds Association, Inc.
