Piercing Shop in Jericho, NY

Located in the Town of Oyster Bay, Jericho was part of the Robert Williams Plantation in 1648. The English families who settled in Jericho were, or soon became, Quakers, members of the Society of Friends. Many fled from persecution in England and in the New England Colonies. They sought a peaceful existence as farmers. The name of the area was changed in 1692 from Lusum to Jericho after the town in the Middle East near the Jordan River mentioned in the Bible as part of the Promised Land.

Elias Hicks married Jemima Seaman in 1771 and moved to her family’s farm in Jericho, where he soon became a noted preacher of Quaker doctrine. All the Quakers suffered during the British occupation of Long Island in the Revolutionary War. The practice was to quarter troops in homes of residents, who had to provide room and board for them. The Quakers continued to protest the entire concept of war itself. After the war, peace returned to Jericho, and the neat farms and businesses began to prosper. A Friends Meeting house was built in 1788 in Jericho that is still used in the 21st century. A Quaker school was built in 1793, the Charity Society of Jericho and Westbury in 1794, and slavery was abolished in 1817, with Hicks’ help.

A post office was established in 1802, a cider mill in the mid-19th century, the first public elementary school in 1905, known as the Cedar Swamp School. Improvements to infrastructure were made with the founding of the Jericho Water District in 1923. As the population increased, a new elementary school was built in 1953 (Robert Seaman School), and a Volunteer Fire Department established in 1938. The population kept increasing until the last elementary schools in Jericho were built, the George A. Jackson Elementary School in 1957, the now closed Robert Williams School in 1961 and the Cantiague School in 1963. When the Village of Muttontown was incorporated, the cider mill was within the village limits. Because most Gold Coast villages wanted to remain business free areas, many do not have their own post offices or ZIP Codes. Therefore, Jericho Post Office which serves this area of Muttontown is displayed as the official USPS mailing address and leads to the misconception that the cider mill is in Jericho.