WITCHCRAFT AND A WAR

Two disparate but intriguing topics - the Civil War and witchcraft in East Hampton - will be explored in the next two installments of the 350th anniversary lecture series on Sunday.

Harrison Hunt will give an overview of the town during the years of the Civil War, touching on local participation in the military, homefront activities, reactions to the war, attitudes toward slavery, and political leanings in the elections of 1860 and 1864.

The Supervisor of Collections and Historic Sites with the Nassau County Department of Recreation and Parks, Mr. Hunt has done extensive research on Long Island's role in the Civil War. His talk, which will begin at 1 p.m. at Guild Hall, has been underwritten by Sotheby's International Realty.

"It Were as Well to Please the Devil as Anger Him" is the name of Saturday's second lecture, subtitled "Witchcraft in the Founding Days of East Hampton." Hugh R. King and Loretta Orion will give a historical reconstruction and anthropological interpretation of perceived trafficking in black magic here in the mid-17th century.

Their lecture, underwritten by the Maidstone Arms, will begin at 2:30 p.m. at Guild Hall. Mr. King, a retired teacher at the Springs School who is the official town crier, leads tours of Main Street and the South End Burying Ground for the East Hampton Historical Society and writes a column on local history for The East Hampton Independent.

His wife, Ms. Orion, who teaches anthropology and sociology at Hofstra University, is the author of "Never Again the Burning Times; Paganism Revived." Her play, "The Siberian Shaman's Dress," won first prize for anthropological fiction writing from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology.

Also on Saturday, bygone days of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church will be the focus of an open-house exhibit there. The church's minister, the Rev. Robert Stuart, a student of its history during his almost 17 years in office, has put together a presentation that will be on view from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the church's Donald Yule Room. Mr. Stuart is retiring in early September.

Old photographs of former ministers and of the church at various stages of construction and change will be on view along with the church's first hymnal (from 1860), its first organ, a pump organ, and a pulpit and chairs from 1887. A booklet compiled by Mr. Stuart on the history of the church will be available for purchase.

M.N.