I am thrilled that The Mary E. Bell House in Center Moriches has been rightfully listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the nation’s official list of properties worthy of preservation. Listing on the National Register recognizes the importance of these properties to the history of our country, and provides them with a measure of protection. The Mary E. Bell House was listed on the State Register of Historic Places in October, before being forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register in Washington D.C., and nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

The historic Mary E. Bell House, located at 66 Railroad Avenue, was built in 1872 by Selah Smith. Mr. Smith, from Huntington, built the two-story house where he lived with his wife and daughters. Mary E. Bell (née Smith) inherited the house after her father’s death and played a central role in her church and community. The property sat just two-doors down from the Moriches AME Church. Founded in the early 1840s by Mr. Abraham Perdue, a freed slave, the Moriches AME church played a pivotal role in the African-American community and as the congregation continued to grow, so did the community’s number of black landowners. Following the death of Mr. Perdue, the church became an affiliated African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Conference, through the Varick Society of Christian Endeavor, with Mrs. Mary E. Bell as leader of this local society. Pastor Bell passed away in 1920.[1]

Currently, The Mary E. Bell House is under the stewardship of the Ketcham Inn Foundation, and I congratulate the Foundation on this momentous designation. Providing the Mary E. Bell House with a Historic Preservation designation safeguards a rich and important part of history within the Center Moriches community and beyond.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/HistoricBellHouse/about/?ref=page_internal