In 1714, Colonel Richard Floyd donated land to make the church larger. He said he would only donate the land if the church was only to be used by Presbyterians. The people who weren’t Presbyterian had to find their own church to pray. That is why they created the Caroline Church. It was also the first church built in Setauket.

On August 27, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, George Washington and his troops lost the Battle of Long Island in Brooklyn. After this, the British took over all of Long Island, including Setauket. They then took over the Presbyterian Church as a garrison. They took wood from the church, kept their horses in the church and they even used the headstones from the graveyard to build barriers. This upset the people of Setauket very much.  The Caroline Church was the church that the British soldiers prayed in while they were in Setauket.  This is because the Caroline Church was the Church of England and the people there prayed to the Queen and King as well as to God,  The Presbyterians, did not pray to the King and Queen, so they thought it was fine to ruin the church.

On August 22, 1777 the Patriots, led by Colonel Parsons, fought from Patriot’s Rock against the Redcoats in the church in the Battle of Setauket. One of the patriots in that battle was Zachariah Greene (who was 17 at the time) who later became Reverend Greene and the Pastor of the Presbyterian Church.

Several years later, the church was struck by lightening and burned down. In 1812, they built a new one, which is still standing as beautiful now as it was in the 18^th century.

The top of the Presbyterian Church was built like an up side down boat. This was because most of the builders in Setauket were ship builders, so they built it as they knew how. They made the Presbyterian Church with wooden pegs instead of nails. This was a very common way to build buildings back then.

A long time ago, the people that went to the Presbyterian Church had to rent their pews. The first row of pews would cost the most and the last row of pews would cost the least. Now, they do not have to rent their pews. Also, a longtime ago, the men always sat in front of the ladies.

Behind the church is the old graveyard where there are a lot of historical people buried like, Samuel Thompson, William Sidney Mount, and many Brewsters and Woodhulls among others.

People could visit the church and see how beautiful it is and learn about a lot of history of Setauket.

This is the church from the center of the Village Green.