On the eve of the Bicentennial in 1976, the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (now Preservation Long Island) posed a daunting question to its then curator, Dean Failey: what forces shaped early Long Island furniture? Wood and Water: Furniture on Long Island, 1660–1860, on view at Preservation Long Island’s exhibition gallery in Cold Spring Harbor through November 22, reconciles new frameworks with the investigative work Failey continued until his death in 2015. Coupled with fortuitous discoveries, intensive research into Preservation Long Island’s own holdings unlocks previously unknown makers and users. Admirers of Newport’s Townsend furniture-making dynasty will be surprised at the family’s Long Island roots explored in the show. Wood and Water responds to these two constants in Long Island life.