Riverhead honors thriving Bell Town community of Blacks, American Indians

Nearly a century since four brothers founded Bell Town after migrating from Virginia to the Aquebogue section of Riverhead during the “Great Migration,” Riverhead has officially designated it the town’s first honorary Heritage Area.

Bell Town was formed in the 1930s by siblings Mansfield, Condry, Ezekiel and Melkiah Bell, who left Powhatan County, Virginia, during the decades from the early 1900s to 1970, joining the 6 million Blacks from the rural South who relocated to cities in the North, Midwest and the West seeking better economic opportunities and less discrimination.

It’s been a place that residents with Black and American Indian roots could call home, said Marilyn Banks-Winter, a descendent of the Bells.

“It was a safe haven for them,” Banks-Winter told Newsday in a recent interview. “They didn’t have to worry about discrimination because everyone looked like them. There was always a true sense of community, even [for me] growing up there. It’s home.”

Banks-Winter’s grandfather, Mansfield Bell, who was also part of the Unkechaug Indian Nation, and his brothers bought 16 acres on the north side of Hubbard Avenue and created 32 residential lots — which include what is now Bell Avenue, Hobson Drive and Zion Street —which they sold to family and friends who also relocated from Virginia.

Over time, the area became predominantly Black and Native American. Its inhabitants owned and developed businesses and provided commodities and services, including fruits and vegetables, meats, baked goods, cleaning businesses and masonry, among others, throughout Riverhead and areas beyond it, according to Banks-Winter.

With help from other relatives, Banks-Winter, who grew up in Bell Town and is president of the Riverhead-based nonprofit African American Educational and Cultural Festival Inc., began to research their family’s roots in 2015 to document their personal history. In her research of books and family “bibles,” and interviews with family members, Banks-Winter began to discover the rich history behind Bell Town.

“Everyone there was very friendly, extremely friendly,” said Banks-Winter. “Everyone took care of each other’s children, we would go to each other’s houses. They were quiet people. They stayed to themselves, they took care of the land, took care of each other and took care of the community.”

Richard Wines, chairman of Riverhead’s Landmarks and Preservation Commission, said the honorary designation recognizes the area’s historical importance to the town but does not create any developmental restrictions that naming it a historic district would carry.

Wines added that his commission felt they “need to be doing something to celebrate that part of our heritage.”

“It’s intended to recognize the importance that all of these people who came to Riverhead in the Great Migration [had] and their importance as a significant element of the town’s population,” Wines said. “Too often, nonwhite portions of our population have gotten very little recognition.” 

Banks-Winter said the years of research were worthwhile for the opportunity to tell her story and her family’s, and the story of a key piece of Riverhead’s history.

“It’s American history,” Banks-Winter said. “It’s an untold story of American history, and Riverhead is not complete without it.”