From the desk of Huntington Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia
As another anniversary of the death of Nathan Hale approaches on September 22, I feel it is important to mention that the Huntington Town Clerk’s Archives is home of one of the three tabletop sized copies of the Nathan Hale statue that exist in the State of New York. The Metropolitan Museum has a copy and so does the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Nathan Hale joined a Connecticut militia after the Revolutionary War began in 1775. On September 8, 1776, when General Washington needed a spy behind enemy lines Hale was the only one who volunteered. He was caught by the British and on the morning of September 22, 1776, Captain Nathan Hale was hanged at 11:00 AM. He was 21 years old and the first American to be executed for spying on behalf of his country.
Standing images and markers of Nathan Hale have been erected in many cities and towns including our Huntington. The life-size statue of Nathan Hale was the first major commission gained by Frederick William MacMonnies. Erected in 1890 in City Hall Park, New York, it stands near where Nathan Hale was thought to have been executed. MacMonnies was one of the earliest American sculptors. To supplement his fees from major commissions he sold tabletop sized reproductions to the public.
(Huntington Town Clerk’s Archives collection: Nathan Hale as depicted in bronze by Frederick William MacMonnies)
I invite our residents to visit the Archives and view the statue in our collection of America’s first hero sculpted by one of America’s prominent sculptors and summer resident of the Town.