Southold fourth graders lead town history tour

Ever been curious about the history behind the old Beckwith store in the center of Southold? Let’s ask Jack Roeser. 

“It was a one-stop-shop for the rural Southold community — candles, and even stationery,” Jack explained the other day.

Or how about the building that says Southold Savings Bank a couple blocks east? Blake Grattan has that one wired.

“Before it was built, this spot was home to the Southold Hotel. Hotels back then were a big deal, especially in small towns,” Blake said. “They weren’t just places to sleep, but also important hubs for travelers, merchants and locals.”

Jack and Blake and other fourth-graders from Southold Elementary School were the docents for an educational walking tour of the village organized by the school and Darren St. George, the new director of the Southold Historical Museum. 

The idea was for the students to learn the histories of the dozen locations from material provided by the historical museum. They then converted the information into their Q-and-A presentations.

“The students did a fantastic job transforming these historic facts into a conversational dialogue among themselves,” said Mr. St. George. “I hope it inspires future projects like this whenever the opportunity arises.”

Last week’s tour was recorded by SOHO News, the high school’s video channel and will be presented soon on YouTube. The tour guides’ teachers are Kristin Woods, Sydney Kahn and James Gilvarry.

“It was really fun,” Megan Kennedy, age 9, reflected afterward. “All the spots are new now when we see them.” 

Including the IGA, which used to be Bohack’s and which Megan discovered “had its own cheesecake company.”

Besides the Beckwith store and the hotel/bank, other stops included the school (opened in 1902), the Presbyterian church (one of the oldest in the state), Michelangelo’s Pizzeria (used to be an auto dealer), and the Prince Building (once a post office with an oyster bar and candy store included). 

As for Beckwith’s, the building was built sometime before 1850, and started as a small general store when Captain Sherburne A. Beckwith retired from sailing in 1864.

“Captain Beckwith was very religious, and his customers remember that whenever someone bought crackers from him, he would start singing hymns to them,” according to the museum’s research.