Southold First Universalist Church

BY DANNY McCARTHY
Greetings everyone! Due to the CORONA virus - last year's Southold First Universalist Church Thanksgiving luncheon was cancelled. The annual Southold First Universalist Church Community Thanksgiving Dinner is a tradition that has been done for decades sponsored and provided by the church as a service to the community as a free gift to the community. Traditionally, it was held in the Southold First Universalist Church parish hall. Since the church burned down, it has been held at the Southold American Legion Griswold-Terry-Glover Post 803 Hall. Susan Pond, President First Universalist Church of Southold said: "We plan to host it in our parish hall again when the new building is completed."

According to Becky Terry’s November 1985 Veteran’s Day Nostalgia article, early Southold settlers raised a flag “When the Declaration of Independence was signed” by the building now known as the Southold American Legion Hall, which is on the corner of Tucker’s Lane. At the time that flag was raised, the flag lay atop a pole, which became known as the Liberty Pole. The Liberty Pole was taken down years later and, according to the article, “its top section with weather vane was placed on the steeple of the First Universalist Church.”

The Southold Ladies Monumental Union planned to honor Civil War Veterans by holding “suppers and entertainments,” according to that Becky Terry article. The Soldiers Monument that is on the corner of Tucker’s Lane and Main Road is right in front of the Southold American Legion Hall. The monument was erected by the Ladies Monumental Union to honor veterans. They raised $1800 to pay for it, through suppers and entertainments. It was dedicated on May 30, 1887 in front of thousands of people, many of them veterans. The Southold Park District owns and maintains this monument site known as Budd’s Park.” Becky Terry’s article ends: “The Soldiers Monument was placed where the Liberty Pole once stood.”
Former Southold Town Historian Antonia Booth repeats that Becky Terry article {in-a-way} on pages three-to-five in The Peconic Bay Shopper dated July 2014. - Here's a link to the July 2014 The Peconic Bay Shopper:
PBSJuly2014pg1-11.19075810.pdf (academyprintingservices.com)

PBSJuly2014pg14-24.19080440.pdf (academyprintingservices.com)

Rebecca Vail Terry {Becky Terry} was born in 1918 in Peconic. Her daughter, Barbara Terry Charnews, and her son, Richard R. Terry, got together and headed to Academy Printing Services on Hortons Lane, to have North Fork Nostalgia taken care of as a salute to the Early Southold history-related columns that appear from Becky Terry's writings in monthly publications from the Peconic Bay Shopper from 1978 to 1993.

Some of the topics covered in North Fork Nostalgia include: Blacksmiths, Cutchogue, Revolutionary War, Thanksgiving & Christmas, School Days, First Universalist Church, LIRR, Fire Department, Farming, Peconic, Log Cabin Memories, Weather, Old Time Wills, Southold Savings Bank, Games We Used to Play, Old Burying Ground at Southold, Southold Library, Civil War, Pearl Harbor, Veterans, Remarkable Women, Horses, Street Names plus Long Island Witchcraft, and plenty more stories all based on fact where Southold or Southolders or personal Becky Terry memories are shared.

I feel so proud because in a way I'm carrying-on the legacy of Becky Terry since I am a regular contributor to the The Peconic Bay Shopper.

First Universalist Church of Southold is “confirmed by several online sources and prior The Suffolk Times articles” – that matches former Southold Historical Society Director Geoffrey K. Fleming’s entry in the Arcadia Publishing-printed Images of America – Southold - as having the date of the building being “founded” in 1837. Also, William D. Cochran is credited with the design. This was reported in the March 15, 2015 The Suffolk Times by Grant Parpan and Michael White. {Day of The Suffolk Times weekly publication is Thursday. March 15, 2015 was a Thursday.} According to the March 15, 2015 The Suffolk Times article: “The historic First Universalist Church of Southold was reduced to ruins Saturday night by a fast-moving blaze that drew about 150 firefighters to the Main Road property as other neighbors and passersby watched from the road.”

The wooden structure had been known as “The church at the bend on Route 25.”
Former The Suffolk Times reporter Paul Squire captured the mystery in his article dated May 28, 2015. The Southold First Universalist Church had its “lone eastern wall and the back rooms” leveled by a construction crew that May. A “farewell service” and “regular weekly services” were held “at another historic building: the Custer Institute observatory down the road.” We also get reminded that the church “had been restored in 1907.” After the Hurricane of 1987, the church again had restoration “according to Suffolk Times articles.”
“People Who Need Steeple”

Paul Squire states in his article within the sentence where Hurricane Gloria and the church’s restoration that occurred afterwards by listing this - “with the now-lost steeple.” There was no mention of the weather vane that had been atop the steeple in Paul Squire's article.

ACCORDING TO STEVE WICK, Senior Editor of The Suffolk Times, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony of the Southold First Universalist Church of "the church on the turn" Saturday, July 22, 2023 at 2 pm ~ {The information was in the July 13, 2023 The Suffolk Times}

{Southold Local reader Alan Stewart shared his grief and immediate stress upon learning of the ultimate blaze that ended his church – his “home-like” love for his church is ultimately recalled online in the March 16, 2015 Southold Local.}:http://southoldlocal.com/2015/03/16/member-of-first-universalist-church-of-southold-shares-memories-heartbreak/