Blackwell Door Summer Exhibit for America 250

Jul 13

Blackwell Door America 250 exhibit at Advance Masonic Temple

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is proud to present the Blackwell Door Summer Exhibit this summer at the Advance Masonic Temple, 21-14 30th Avenue, Astoria, New York, as part of the America 250 celebration.

This exhibit continues the momentum of the successful author talk Long Island City 1776, featuring discussion and readings by author Richard Melnick, and offers visitors the chance to see one of Astoria’s most remarkable colonial artifacts up close.

The Blackwell Door, believed to date to 1765, once belonged to the Blackwell family stone house in Ravenswood. Most notably, it still bears the British “Arrow of Confiscation,” or crow foot mark, carved into it during the Revolutionary War after Colonel Jacob Blackwell fled the property in 1776.

Visitors should also keep an eye out for a series of historical walking tours hosted by Alan Arichavala of the Greater Astoria Historical Society. These tours will trace the area of the Blackwell family’s original homestead and nearby local sites tied to their history, ending at the Advance Masonic Temple with a viewing of the door itself.