Footnotes to Long Island History
Country Stores Recalled
by
Thomas R. Bayles
By Thomas R. Bayles
The old country store that occupied such as important place
in the life of the small country villages a century ago has disappeared
with the march of time, with the exception of those that have been
restored in the Suffolk museums at Stony Brook, the Suffolk County
Historical Society's museum at Riverhead, and the very complete one in
Emil's Middle Island museum.
A typical example of the county store of the days gone by
was Pfeiffer's in Middle Island. This store was operated by Edward
Pfeiffer for 50 years, from 1893 until his retirement in 1943. For 100
years before that it was a country store operated by Horace Randall and
later by his son, Joseph Randall. Even earlier it was conducted as a
tavern and overnight stopping place for the travelers who came through
in the early years on horse back and later in the stage coaches that ran
through the middle of the Island from the city to the east end villages.
Mention of it is made in the account of Dr. Hamilton's trip
through Long Island in 1744. We quote:
“Wednesday, July 11, 1744; We arrived at one Brewster's,
(Pfeiffer's store) at 8 o'clock at night where we put up for all night
and in this house could get nothing to eat or drink, and so were obliged
to go to bed fasting and supperless. I was conducted to a large room
upstairs. The people in this house seemed to be quite savage and rude.”
The oldest part of this building was built before 1739 by
one of the Brewster family, a grandson of Nathaniel Brewster, the first
minister of the old town church at Setauket in 1665.
The Middle Island post office has been located in this store
for more than 50 years, since 1901, with the exception of one year,
first with Edward Pfeiffer as postmaster and then his son, Everett, who
now conducts the store and post office.
The country store and post office was the center of
community life in the days before the coming of the automobiles, and
supplied nearly all the wants of the people for miles around.
The farmers from all directions came nearly every day to get
their mail and supplies and swap the new with their neighbors. On
stormy days in winter there was always a crowd of men and boys around
the old potbellied stove, with their horses and wagons tied to the old
hitching rail in front of the store.
Here the news of the day was discussed and the fate of the
nation argued. Politics was a favorite topic, and many of the issues of
the day were settled behind the stove. The store was kept open evenings
until nine, and those who couldn't make it during the day usually showed
up in the evening. Checkers was a favorite with the men and a game was
nearly always in progress.
This social center or the town was a picturesque scene in
those years with the hanging oil lamps, and the benches and chairs
around the old stove in the rear of the store.
In the back end of the room were men's and women's shoes,
felt and rubber boots, arctics and rubbers. Around the sides were the
cracker and sugar barrels, and boxes of tea, coffee, oatmeal, prunes,
raisins, etc. as most of the groceries in those days were sold in bulk
and had to be weighed out.
In the back room hung hams and bacon, and there were barrels
of salt pork in brine, with a long handled hook with which to fish for a
piece of pork. The kerosene barrel, vinegar barrel and molasses barrel
also were located there. “New Orleans” molasses was an important item
and was sold for 50 to 60 cents a gallon. This was real molasses, not
the kind we now buy in a quart can.
On the west side of the store were boxes of men's and
women's underclothes, dresses, mens shirts and pants and sundries of all
kinds. The old red boxes on the top shelf contained heavy fleece lined
union suits for men, which were favorite in years gone by.
Hardware of all kinds was sold, as well as harness, horse
collars, whips blankets, paint, fertilizer seeds and farm supplies of
all kinds and practically everything needed by those living in the
country. The farmers brought in their butter and eggs and swapped them
for groceries and supplies. Sometimes someone would slip over some eggs
that had been found in a nest in the hay mow now in the barn, and
perhaps weren't too fresh, and some of the butter was strong enough to
grease a wagon with.
An old hand bill dated October 9, 1899, stated that Mr.
Pfeiffer had just purchased a carload of flour and would sell it for 10
days at the low price of $4.69 a barrel. Many people of today have
never seen a barrel of flour. A hand bill for Christmas, 1896,
advertised “the most complete line of holiday goods ever exhibited in
this part of town with toys to please the children, ornaments to please
the lads and lassies, paperteries, games, clocks, watches, fancy
glassware, chinaware, lamps, vases, Christmas cards, picture frames,
albums, dolls, nuts, candies, oranges, etc.”
A sale in 1898 advertised calico at 3 cents a yard, suiting
at 5 cents, dress goods, 10 cents a year, seersuckers at 7 cents a yard,
ginghams 5 cents a yard, “tabby cats”. Pickannies and Tatters at 5
cents each pants cloth 15 cents a yard, men's hats and caps 25 cents,
ladies' hose 10 cents pair, men's underwear 25 cents, ladies' shoes $1,
boys shoes 50 cents, men's and boys pants, suits and overcoats 25 cents
to $5, horse blankets at half price.
The scene has changed and we no longer see the men and boys
stopping at the store for a social hour. The old hanging oil lamps and
the cracker barrels have gone, and all that is left is the old
potbellied stove, still in daily use. The old checker board lies hidden
away on a shelf, dreaming of the days when it was in daily use. The
good old custom of neighbors stopping in to be sociable for a while has
gone with the rush of our modern world, but who will say the change is
for the better.