The Secret Tour of Long Island's Spy Ring — Nathaniel Philbrick — Washington's tour of Long Island in April 1790 is characterized as a secretive journey implemented with a deliberate "press blackout," likely designed to quietly thank members of the Culper Spy Ring who had conducted intelligence operations during the Revolutionary War. Unlike his extensively documented other travels, there are no surviving diary entries or newspaper accounts of this mysterious trip. Philbrick suggests Washington visited former spies including Austin Roe and Robert Townsend to personally express gratitude for their extraordinary risks and contributions to American independence. Philbrickhighlights serendipitous historical connections, including a chair in Huntington later used by President Theodore Roosevelt, symbolically linking two presidencies across centuries through shared physical objects.
1789