The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook is giving residents and visitors new opportunities to connect with the people, events and cultural changes that have shaped the region. Through several major exhibitions in 2026, the museum is exploring Native American history and creativity, life on Long Island during the 1970s, and the region’s experiences during the American Revolution.

Opening Aug. 20 and continuing through Dec. 20 in the LIM Art Museum, “Enduring Heart: Native American Long Island” celebrates the First Peoples of Long Island and recognizes that Native communities remain an important part of the region’s present and future. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with an advisory panel of Native American community members and scholarly experts. It is the museum’s first exhibition to examine the historical story and present-day artistic legacies of Native Long Island.

Visitors can also step back into a more recent chapter of local history with “Long Island in the ’70s,” on view in the LIM History Museum through Oct. 18. The exhibition looks beyond the decade’s familiar fashions and pop culture to examine major social, political and demographic changes. As suburban growth expanded eastward, Suffolk County communities experienced rapid population growth, environmental activism and debates surrounding development.

The exhibition combines art and historical artifacts, including clothing, photographs, toys, sports memorabilia and a 1974 AMC Matador Station Wagon. An immersive 1970s suburban living room helps recreate the period, while other displays explore the end of the Vietnam War, Long Island’s changing artistic community and the arrival of the New York Islanders in 1972.

History reaches further back with “The Seat of Action: Long Island in the American Revolution and Beyond,” also on view through Oct. 18. Presented as part of the museum’s America250 celebration, the exhibition examines Long Island’s years under British control from 1776 to 1783 and the hardships experienced by local families. Among its featured objects is a rare portrait of Benjamin Tallmadge, George Washington’s spymaster and a member of the Culper Spy Ring.

The Long Island Museum, at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook, is open Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. General adult admission is $15, with discounts and several free-admission programs available. Admission is free after 5 p.m. Thursdays.

Residents can learn more about the museum’s America250 exhibitions and programming at Long Island Museum’s Long Island 250 page.