It’s me again, Pyrrhus Concer. Born here in the beautiful Village of Southampton at Cooper Hall, and I inherited a home from my parents at 51 Pond Lane — which I understand is now named after me, “Concer’s Way.” Not too shabby for a enslaved man, huh?
So, okay, what did you think? Did you think I stayed or did I go for another exciting venture? Well, if you said I went, you were right. But, unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well.
Let’s say when it was all said and done, the “Southampton dream team” not only didn’t fulfill their sparkling eyes’ dream of getting gold in “’dem dere hills,” but let’s say the dream and the team were broken and it was every man for themselves. Thank God, I made it back to my sweet, patient Rachel.
I think you’ve gotten to know me by now. I am a venturous kind of guy. A “go-getter” might be another term.
One day, I was sitting on my porch and I looked across at the lake, and a light bulb went off. I thought, hey, I think it would be pretty cool to start my own ferry taxi business taking people from the lake side to the ocean side. By golly, it was a hit.
By now I was, you know, kind of a hero, along with Mercator Cooper, so I was also highly respected, and people even trusted me with their children, taking them for a ride over to the ocean side. I usually didn’t charge the cute little kids, but it cost them to have to listen to all my stories on the sea. But they loved hearing the adventures as much as I love sharing. They loved me and I adored them. I must say, it was a lucrative business. I also expanded my business and it definitely paid off.
Rachel was happy I was finally staying put. It was us and the two boys. One happy family. Until tragedy struck our happy home.
The village community, especially my neighbor Elihu Root, rallied with sincere compassion to comfort me and Rachel. Just thinking about it makes me sad. But I’ll share next week. And I’ll also tell you more about my awesome neighbor.
Brenda Simmons
Founder and Executive Director
Southampton African American Museum
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