6 minute read
Living in Bellmore
Pre-Pandemic Highlights
February
Alyssa Seidman/Herald In February, John F. Kennedy High School varsity softball players Lara Indich, left, and Sami Levine, were co-candidates for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year campaign. Their team, “Striking Out Cancer,” held events to raise money for the society.
MarcH
Andrew Garcia/Herald Students in John F. Kennedy High School’s culinary program, including, from left, Cecilia Hayes, Sunita Samaroo, Anne Varveris and Daniel Delgado, volunteered at St. Francis’s charitable barbecue feast in March.
aPril
Andrew Garcia/Herald Junior Troop 351 leaders provided a kerchief to Jason Bowman during a moving-up ceremony in April, as Coach Craig Papach, left, looked on.
Alyssa Seidman/Herald Lions Club members Audra Vandusen, left, Kerry Wolfson and Joann Erhard distributed prepackaged winter clothing to families during the Bellmore Lions Club’s annual children’s holiday party in December.
liViNG iN bellMore
No doubt much has changed in the Bellmores over the years. What was once a sleepy farming and fishing community is now a frenetic suburb, full of momand-pop shops, top-notch schools and sprawling parks.
Alison Frankel, president and co-founder of the Bellmore Civic Association, said, “Bellmore is unique because we have so many family-owned businesses, which is rare these days. I love walking with the stroller around the block and passing beautiful homes on the water, while enjoying the bay breeze.
The Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores annually sponsors the Bellmore Family Street Festival, which is held in Bellmore Village, the community’s downtown, in September or October. Over the years, it has become the largest family street fair in Nassau County, annually attracting more than 100,000 fair-goers. See the Bellmore Chamber’s website or the Bellmore Herald Life for more details.
Three school districts serve the community –– Bellmore, North Bellmore and the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. The two elementary districts feed into the Central District.
The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District spent an average of $23,907 per student in 2016-17, compared to the statewide average of $23,370, according to the New York State Education Department. Ninety-four to 98 percent of the district’s graduates attend college, compared with the state average of 78 percent.
Marie Testa, superintendent of the North Bellmore School District, has lived in the community nearly her entire life. The Bellmores, she said, “have a small-town feel. We don’t have a lot of commercial businesses that other towns have. We have Bellmore Village as the heart of the community.”
A big part of what makes the schools so great is the close partnership between teachers and students, Testa said. “The teachers love the students. It’s that simple,” she said. “They want the best for the children. It’s a very caring community.”
The superintendent added that Bellmorites are kindhearted people. “It’s a safe neighborhood, warm, inviting, close-knit. It’s a homey place to be,” she said.
The first records of the community that is now the Bellmores appeared in the mid- to late-1600s. It all began when a prominent farmer, John Smith, gave his son, Jeremiah, a land deed for 100 acres of salt marsh. The marsh provided a fine hay, ideal for raising cattle. Soon, people came from all around to lay claim and buy acreage on the marsh.
Chris Peterkin, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2770, led Bellmore’s Veterans Day Ceremony in November 2019.
Andrew Garcia/Herald
Continued from previous page
Robert Bedell, another of Bellmore’s earliest settlers, moved to the community during the 1640s. He was among the more successful salt marsh farmers. The Bedell home, built by John Bedell, Robert’s son, still stands at Merrick Road and South Saint Marks Avenue. It has been declared an historical landmark.
Another early pioneer was Thomas Southard, a farmer from what is now North Bellmore, who owned 200 acres of land in 1655. Southard’s home still sits by what is now the Southern State Parkway. It, too, has since been declared a landmark.
In the late 1700s, George Washington marched through the community to decorate Revolutionary War heroes. As Washington made his way along Merrick Road, he noted the abundance of Bellmore’s salt grasses in his journal.
Before Bellmore became Bellmore in the 1880s, the community was divided into two distinct neighborhoods. North Bellmore was known as Smithville South, and Bellmore was called New Bridge.
In the 1860s, shortly after the Civil War, the Long Island Rail Road was built a few feet south of where the current trestle stands near Sunrise Highway. At the time, the community comprised mainly fishermen and farmers, who used the Long Island Rail Road to ferry their goods to market. The railroad unified the community. In fact, the Long Island Rail Road renamed the SmithvilleNewbridge region as Bellmore in the early 1880s.
There are probably 150 stories as to how Bellmore got its name. According to local historians, Bellmore was likely given its moniker to connote “beautiful village.”
Bellmore has had its fair share of notable talent. TV weather prognosticator Elliot “Storm” Field graduated from Mepham High School in 1966, and TV producer Roone Arledge in 1948. Actor George Kennedy lived in Bellmore and attended St. Barnabas Parochial School. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani lived in North Bellmore. And Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey also reportedly called Bellmore home at one time.
Many famous Civil War veterans also lived in Bellmore, including Andrew Jackson Russell, who fought at Gettysburg and died in the 1930s.
The WEAF Radio tower, which broadcasted from Maple Avenue in the 1930s, was an important landmark in Bellmore.
Restaurants have always been a mainstay in Bellmore. The Bavarian Village on Sunrise Highway is a memorable piece of Bellmore history. In its heyday, during the 1930s, the German restaurant, a place remembered for “immense fun,” was often booked for weddings. Its cuisine attracted people from throughout the metropolitan area. It was later renamed Sunrise Village.
McCluskey’s Steakhouse, which closed in 1995, was famous throughout the metropolitan area. Patrons from as far as New Jersey would venture to the eatery for its steak and fried onions.
Trudie Cowen founded the Historical Society of the Bellmores in 1974, shortly before the community’s 300th anniversary.
Today, the Bellmore/North Bellmore community, which is home to roughly 36,000 residents, stands as one of Nassau County’s finest communities. Bellmore Village, the restored “old-fashioned” downtown, now links Bellmore’s past with the present.
Holocaust survivor Theresa Mermelstein was joined by her family during her 100th birthday party in Bellmore in June.
Andrew Garcia/Herald
LIVING IN BeLLmore VILLaGe
Bellmore’s downtown shopping district, on Bedford Avenue, just north of Sunrise Highway, harkens back to simpler times on Long Island. With charming brick-lined sidewalks, old-fashioned light posts and an abundance of family-owned businesses, strolling through Bellmore’s downtown, Bellmore Village, is a trip into Long Island’s past.
The downtown has everything anyone could need for a day of food and entertainment right off of the Long Island Rail Road line. Dinner options range from Italian to Mediterranean, while several local cafés serve as the perfect stops for after-dinner treats.
Bellmorites can then head to the Bellmore Playhouse on Bedford Avenue or the 108-year-old Bellmore Movies and Showcase on Pettit Avenue, next to the historic Bellmore Fire District headquarters, with a full stomach for a night of entertainment. Aside from the movies, local pubs and cafés regularly feature live music, and the Bellmore train station hosts a car show every Friday night. Once a year, Bedford Avenue is cordoned off for the street fair, complete with rides, games, vendors and even pony rides. When in the mood for a quiet night, nothing beats a relaxing walk under the light posts with friends and family.
