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You are here: Home / Mary E. Bell House

Mary E. Bell House

Selah and Mary Ann Smith House, Known locally as the “Slave House”

66 Railroad Ave, Center Moriches, New York 11934

2019 May 22, Mary E. Bell House Dedication and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

2020 October 23, Mary E. Bell House listed on N.Y. State Register of Historic Places

2020 November 13, Mary E. Bell House listed on National Register of Historic Places

2020 December 30, Bertram E. Seides received New York State Historic Preservation Award for the Mary E. Bell House Restoration (see right)

2021 January, William G. Pomeroy Foundation approves National Register plaque for Mary E. Bell House

2021 June, Pomeroy Foundation National Register plaque installed

2021 June 17, Juneteenth National Independence Day Gathering, our first as a federal holiday

2021 September 10, Memorial Stone Committee met at Bell House

2022 June 12, Juneteenth celebration held at Bell House south lawn

2023 June 11, Juneteenth celebration with coordinating Gallery 90 art show, artist Kathleen Celestin

2024 June 23, Juneteenth celebration with coordinating Gallery 90 art show, artist Rani Carson

Wikipedia – Mary E. Bell House

Tours are available

News 12 – Long Island’s Hidden Past: Mary E. Bell House, Danielle Campbell (2019)

Video is a good introductory overview of the Mary E. Bell House

Mary E. Bell House c. 1950s

The Mary E. Bell House is significant in the area of ethnic history for its association with the Smith and Bell families and the African-American community of Center Moriches during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Center Moriches, Abraham and Henry Perdue became prominent leaders and landowners within the small black community. In the decades after they founded the Moriches AME Church, the community and its number of black landowners grew. Selah Smith moved to Center Moriches, purchased land, and built a home for his family on Railroad Avenue in ca. 1872. This home, which would remain in the family for over a century, provided security, stability, and opportunity to his family. The house and land provided a safe space, the ability to supplement their income with a garden and independent work, and was located close to the AME Church that they played an active role in. Mary E. Bell (née Smith) inherited the house after her father’s death.

c. 1847 Bell AME Zion Church in its original location
Members of the Bell family c. 1900

With her husband, Ernest Bell, she raised a family of four children in the house and worked as a laundress. Mary E. Bell played a central role in her church and community; with Annie Arch, she was critical to the small congregation’s survival. She fostered its transition from the AME to the AMEZ denomination, led its Varick Society of Christian Endeavor, and held prayer meetings at her home. After her death in 1923, the congregation renamed itself the Bell AMEZ Church in her honor.

Alice Bell, Mary’s daughter, (as seen in the above photograph, approx. 3 y.o.) grew up and continued to live in the House until her death in 1996.

Alice Bell, 1950s
Apron gifted in memory of Alice Bell from Diane Schwindt’s apron collection

A Juneteenth celebration at the Mary E. Bell House, 2020. Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had been enslaved in the United States commemorated on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865 announcement by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom from slavery in Texas.

Members of the African-American community, along with Diane Schwindt, our tavern cook, assist in preparing a wonderful meal for the annual Juneteenth celebration at the Mary E. Bell House.

2017 – Mary E. Bell House receives a exterior and interior cleanup in preparation for a fresh coat of paint.
Research of the family lineage is ongoing with preliminary results showing the Bell family is descending from the Smith family as all slaves were named after their owners.
Research beyond the office of Ketcham Inn is being done by Patrick Mealey and Joyce Jackson, www.fineartismade.com, with assistance from our Historian, Mary E. Field and references back to Van R. Field’s archives.

State Register approval letter
National Register approval letter

Owned by Town of Brookhaven (TOB), TOB designated Park. TOB designated Landmark, State & National Register, Ketcham Inn Foundation steward for 30 years, renewable once for 30 years. TOB mows the lawn. KIFI notified Roberta Lane who notified the OPRHP who notified the TOB of Bell House significance which stopped demolition. KIFI accepted stewardship, secured the residence and did emergency repairs. A June, 2019, opening garnered additional support from the black and white community.

Memorial Stone Monument Project Committee, September 10, 2021
Seen on the porch are (L-R) Melanie Cardone-Lechter, Karen Maro, Diane Schwindt, unseen: Rev. Stanley Sneed, Bert Seides

Donations and Acquisitions

Donation of 6 matching Victorian cane-seat side chairs in original condition
by Anne Hayes & David Smith for the interpretive education room (2021)

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