Palmetto Publishing Releases Dr. Paul J. Carr's History of Riverhead's Suffolk County Fairs

The newly published volume chronicles the Suffolk County Agricultural Society's annual exhibitions from 1818 through 1941 and the farming economy of eastern Long Island that surrounded them.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Palmetto Publishing has released Farming, Community, and the Legacy of The Suffolk County Agricultural Society's Fairs, a local history by Dr. Paul J. Carr, written with Riverhead Town Historian Georgette Lane Case. The book documents the agricultural fairs held at Riverhead, New York, and the farming communities of the East End of Long Island that built them.

The Suffolk County Agricultural Society was founded in 1818 and held its first cattle show in Smithtown. For seventy-six years its annual exhibition took place in Riverhead, where growers competed for premiums over pumpkins, potatoes, cauliflower, cattle, and poultry. Balloonists ascended over the grandstand. Jockeys complained the track was too narrow. Semi-pro ballplayers drew betting crowds, early aviators flew above upturned faces, and President Theodore Roosevelt rode onto the grounds on horseback to address the gathering.

Carr sets the fairs down year by year, from 1865 to 1941, then follows the attempted revivals that came after. The fair buildings were auctioned in 1945 and a school rose on the ground. Around that chronology runs a second account: how land once dismissed as waste was proved fertile, how the railroad carried cauliflower to the city and politicians to the midway, and how potatoes, sod, oysters, and later vineyards reshaped the North Fork. The book also tests several durable local legends against the record.

Dr. Paul J. Carr stated, "I walked into the Riverhead Town Historian's office in 2020 expecting to catalogue documents, and Georgette mentioned she had always hoped to write a pamphlet about the fairs. The research outgrew a pamphlet almost immediately. No full account existed, and it seemed wrong to leave it that way."

The research draws on newspaper accounts, premium lists, treasurers' reports, and the holdings of the Riverhead Town Historian's office. The narrative moves through the post Civil War years, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Long Island Express Hurricane of 1938, and the approach of the Second World War. The book is intended for genealogists, local historians, students, and general readers researching Long Island families, farms, businesses, and landmarks. It sits alongside county histories and historical society journals, and arrives as farmland preservation and the North Fork wine economy continue to draw attention to the region's agricultural past.

Farming, Community, and the Legacy of The Suffolk County Agricultural Society's Fairs is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. For more information about the author, please visit any of their social media platforms.

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About the Author: In 2020, Dr. Paul J. Carr walked into the Riverhead Town Historian's office expecting to catalogue documents. Georgette Lane Case, the town's historian, mentioned she had long hoped to write a pamphlet on the Suffolk County Agricultural Society's fairs. The research that followed, covering the Riverhead fairs from 1865 to 1941 and the farming that surrounded them, outgrew a pamphlet almost immediately and became Farming, Community, and the Legacy of The Suffolk County Agricultural Society's Fairs.

Carr's interest in history accumulated over many years rather than arriving all at once. He has been an avid reader of history, pursued graduate studies in the subject, taught social studies, served as an archivist at the Long Island Rail Road Museum, and volunteered at the Riverhead Historian's office. That combination shows in the book's method: treasurer's reports and premium lists sit beside balloon ascensions, diving horses, and the occasional runaway sulky. He describes the project as a celebration and a dedication to the East End's farming ancestors.

Georgette Lane Case has served as Historian for the Town of Riverhead, New York, since 2001. She works to preserve and promote the town's rich and diverse heritage, and serves as a research resource for genealogists, historians, students, and the public, fielding questions about local families, businesses, landmarks, and community history. Her documentation of Riverhead's past is aimed squarely at the future, at ensuring that later generations understand how their community came to look the way it does.

About the Book:

Title: Farming, Community, and the Legacy of The Suffolk County Agricultural Society's Fairs
Author: Dr. Paul J. Carr With Georgette Lane Case, Riverhead Town Historian

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Publication date: 11/03/2026
ISBN-13: 9798318840555, 9798318840562, 9798318840579

Available for interviews: Author, Dr. Paul J. Carr With Georgette Lane Case Riverhead Town Historian

SOURCE Palmetto Publishing