What is that? Feb. 3, 2024

If you know, let us know. Send your responses to [email protected] or phone 631-275-1859.

Roger McKeon is keeping his record alive of  correctly identifying photographs in this space (see right).

“The marker is on North Ferry Road, just beyond Duvall Road heading south.

Right on, Roger.

According to Ralph J. Duvall’s “The History of Shelter Island,” the schoolhouse was rebuilt after the fire in the winter of 1828 destroyed the old one.

A small account book was uncovered by the historian, showing receipts and expenditures of the school district, with a note on February 28: “To Benjamin Glover’s bill, to building a School House, $428.48.”

Mr. Glover was a master builder on Shelter Island, who constructed the Presbyterian Church.

“The schoolhouse was enlarged in 1884 and again in 1900,” Mr. Duvall writes. “After the old building was abandoned by the school, it was used for every conceivable purpose that was lawful, except as a schoolhouse. For many years the town used it as a place for holding its meetings, and so it became known as  the ‘Old Town Hall,’ and that name brings recollections of good times enjoyed in days gone by.”