Est. 1857 · Oldest continuously operating general store in the United States · Built by a descendant of Smithtown founder Richard 'Bull' Smith · Listed on NRHP as part of Saint James Historic District (1973) · Unchanged structurally since 1894; original fixtures intact
Ebenezer Smith laid down the St. James General Store in 1857, at the northwest corner of Moriches and Harbor Hill Roads in what is now St. James. Smith descended from Richard 'Bull' Smith, the 17th-century English emigrant who founded Smithtown and whose family's influence on western Suffolk County persisted for generations. The store began as a practical commercial node — farm supplies, dry goods, hardware — and also served as the local post office, a role it held through the 19th century.
In the late 19th century the store installed what was reportedly the hamlet's first telephone, and in the 1890s the building was enlarged into its current footprint. It has been structurally unchanged since 1894: the original paint colors, potbellied stove, wooden counters, and display cases remain in place. The building's physical continuity across nearly 170 years is the basis for the Suffolk County Parks Department's designation of it as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States.
The North Shore's summer colony era brought celebrity patronage to the store in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the notable patrons who maintained accounts there: actors Ethel and John Barrymore and Buster Keaton, composer Irving Berlin, actress Myrna Loy, and architect Stanford White. Willie Collier and silent film figures were also regulars. Heavyweight champion James J. Corbett appeared in accounts of the store's social history.
Suffolk County purchased the store in 1990 and dedicated it to the Suffolk County Historical Trust. The National Register of Historic Places includes it as part of the Saint James Historic District (listed 1973).
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_General_Store
- https://suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Parks/Historic-Sites/St-James-General-Store
- https://abc7ny.com/post/look-behind-counter-st-james-general-store-suffolk-county-long-island-ny/17606547/
Child apparition seen walking behind counterChild's voice and crying on the staircaseLight hurrying footsteps in upstairs roomFigures in 19th-century clothing in store aisles
The haunting accounts at the St. James General Store are understated, which suits the building: a narrow wooden structure unchanged since 1894, full of old counters and stovepipes, where the past is already visible in the architecture. The most specific claim is that of a little girl — seen walking behind the counter by at least one employee, and heard crying on the staircase that connects the store floor to the second-floor historical collection.
A visitor independently reported light, hurrying footsteps moving through the upstairs room while the floor was otherwise unoccupied. Figures in 19th-century clothing have been reported in the aisles, though these accounts are less specific about who reported them or when.
Gothic Horror Stories' coverage of St. James and Head of the Harbor includes the general store in a piece specifically about the ghost accounts, noting that the atmospheric setting — the age of the building, the old merchandise, the potbellied stove — shapes the experience of visitors who arrive already knowing about the reports. The piece applies appropriate skepticism while documenting the specific phenomena.
Kerriann Flanagan Brosky included the St. James General Store in Historic Haunts of Long Island (Arcadia/History Press, 2015), one of the most comprehensive documentary treatments of Long Island ghost sites.
No violent or tragic history is specifically attached to the building; the identity of the child apparition is unknown.
Media Appearances
- Historic Haunts of Long Island (book, 2015)
