Learn About Revolutionary War Spies with Your Kids During Spy Week at Fraunces Tavern Museum

Spy Week is returning to Fraunces Tavern Museum (located in the Financial District) Sept. 15-22 with events for the whole family. The weeklong event celebrates the spies of America’s Revolutionary War through exhibits, guided tours, a Nathan Hale Day Commemoration, and a family day. Plus, Spy Week has two new events this year: Fraunces Tavern Museum partnered with Three Village Historical Society in Setauket for the 4th annual Culper Spy Day to kick off Spy Week, and the museum will host a special lecture about Benedict Arnold.

Start the celebration with Culper Spy Day on Sept. 15, during which attendees will learn about the members of Long Island’s spy ring that helped change the course of history and provide General George Washington with the information needed to turn the tide of the Revolutionary War. Culper Spy Day attendees can participate in a self-guided tour of 24 Culper Spy Ring locations, including Setauket Neighborhood House, Sherwood-Jayne Farm, and Drowned Meadow Cottage Museum, with costumed interpreters, activities, and battle and war encampment re-enactments. As a bonus, anyone who attends Culper Spy Day can present their ticket to receive free admission to Fraunces Tavern Museum during Spy Week, says Amy Kennard, communications and marketing manager for the museum.

Throughout the week, visitors at Fraunces Tavern Museum can check out the permanent exhibit Confidential: The American Revolution’s Agents of Espionage and take part in daily 45-minute guided tours of the museum. The exhibit highlights information about the Culper Spy Ring, America’s first spy ring, with artifacts, images, and letters. Bonus: Visitors can act like spies themselves! “There’s a secret message hidden in the object labels and guests can use the cipher wheel [a tool that was used during the Revolutionary War to decode secret messages] and the code that goes with it to try and decipher the secret message,” Kennard says.