Hands-on Shelter Island History: Students partner with H’way Depart. to restore markers
How three Shelter Island students came to assist Highway Department employees in restoring four historical markers on Island roadways can be traced to an obscure upstate judge who once ran for president.
Social studies teacher Peter Miedema can tell the story. As a 7th grader, he said, he’d seen but never really investigated a marker in his hometown of Accord, N.Y. “One day our history teacher, Richard Rydant, announced a name — ‘Alton Brooks Parker’ — in his strong Boston accent,” he remembered. When the teacher paused, the class knew a story was coming and Mr. Rydant didn’t disappoint.
He told he class that the marker that they had all seen but never really thought about was in honor of Alton Brooks Parker, a local man who was appointed to the New York Supreme Court and later elected to the State Court of Appeals, where he served as Chief Justice from 1898 to 1904. He ran for president in 1904 on the Democratic ticket and lost in a landslide to Teddy Roosevelt.
“Learning about him and the marker in town, sparked my passion for history,” Mr. Miedema said. “That sign in a little town meant something, and now, to this day, I always note historical markers wherever I go.”
When he and Highway Superintendent Ken Lewis Jr. were speaking not long ago, they concluded that a perfect way to help spark a passion for history with Island students would be a partnership between the school and the Department, with students working with Highway Department craftsmen restoring markers, putting time and effort into some hands-on history work.
Another serendipitous piece of the puzzle was that, about this time, Town Councilman Benjamin Dyett spoke to Mr. Lewis about possibly restoring the marker on Burns Road, designating the site of the first Presbyterian Manse. It fit with the plan perfectly.
Mr. Lewis said the three students, Thomas Beckwith, William Marshall and Ryan Sanwald went to work, led by Highway Department employees Jared Hamilton and Ron Anderson. The boys were chosen not at random, Mr. Miedema said, but because “I like to fit the student to the task, and these three were ready. And really enjoyed it.”
They removed the markers to take to the Department’s shop. “These are the original markers,” Mr, Lewis said. “Some of them were so rusted out they had to take the whole thing out, poles and all.”
At the shop the students sandblasted the metal markers and then gave them a good coat of blue paint.
They then worked delicately on the yellow lettering, using a fine brush. Then back to the sites for installation. In addition to the Presbyterian Manse marker, there are others: the first settlement of Shelter Island, the first schoolhouse, which is also the site of the first Town Hall, and the Lord Shipyard.
What’s next? “We’re going to be in touch with the History Museum here and do a deep dive on some of the sites,” Mr. Miedema said.
He didn’t add, but who knows — somewhere Alton Brooks Parker might be smiling.
