Pelletreau Silver Shop Reopens With A Fresh Look

On the surface, it would not seem that Captain Elias Pelletreau and Alyssa Saccente have much in common. For starters, there’s the fact that they were born centuries apart. But despite a nearly 300-year age gap, the two share the same passion, one they have pursued in the same location — a tiny building at 80 Main Street in Southampton Village, where Saccente is carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 1700s.

Saccente is the newest artist-in-residence at the Pelletreau Silver Shop, the tiny structure adjacent to the chamber of commerce that was built in the late 1600s by John Woodruff Jr. In the early days, a larger residence was attached to the small workshop, but only that workshop stood the test of time. It eventually became the workshop for Elias Pelletreau, who was born in 1726, after he finished a seven-year silversmithing apprenticeship in New York City and returned to the town of his birth, to make a living creating jewelry and various other objects out of gold and silver.

Over the next 250 years, the tiny shop changed hands several times, with Elias’s son, John, following his father’s footsteps and working in the same trade into the early 1800s. While structures nearby were razed and rebuilt, the shop remained, with various iterations in more modern times as a gift shop and bookshop, before being donated to Southampton Village in the 1960s and becoming a small museum. It is run by the Southampton History Museum, and retains the distinction of being the oldest continuously opened trade shop in the Americas.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a temporary closing of the Pelletreau Silver Shop, but the structure proved its staying power once again. After the previous artist-in-residence, jewelry maker Eric Messin, decided to move to Maine earlier on in the pandemic, the Southampton History Museum was lucky to find Saccente, a resident of Westhampton who was thrilled to become the latest artisan to call the structure home. She now runs her own jewelry making business, Gatta Zaffira, out of the shop, and her title as an artisan and small business owner is just one of the many hats she wears. In addition to creating her own pieces, Saccente is also fulfilling the role of site manager and historian for the Southampton History Museum, and she also teaches education programs for the museum, with beginner classes in metalsmithing and jewelry making offered at the shop. It’s a multi-tasking kind of endeavor that Saccente said she enjoys immensely.

“This building has stood and served the community through times of war, prosperity, and celebration,” she said. “It’s truly a magical and one-of-a-kind place. Being able to share knowledge is something I really value, and I’m grateful that I have an opportunity to do that on a few different levels here.

“It’s really quite exciting to be in a position where I can share what I’m passionate about with other people who want to develop these skills, too,” she added.

Southampton History Museum Executive Director Tom Edmonds said there was no hesitation when it came to asking Saccente to take over the role previously held by Messin, who suggested her for the position.

Saccente, who was born and raised in Westhampton, went to SUNY-New Paltz in 2012 as a drawing and painting major, but fell in love with metal smithing, went through the metal program at New Paltz, and got her bachelor’s in fine art in 2016. Like Elias Pelletreau, she completed an apprenticeship — in her case, with a Woodstock, New York-based jeweler named Adel Chefridi — before returning home to pursue her craft and ultimately open her own business.

“We hired her right away,” he said. “She’s a ball of fire and she loves history.”

In addition to filling the role vacated by Messin, Saccente and her family put plenty of TLC into the shop, sanding the floors and bringing in new furniture, but making sure any updates did not diminish the historical flourishes that are a reminder of the building’s storied past.

Saccente has been working in the shop since the start of 2021, but, because of COVID restrictions, it was not opened to the public until May. She’s thrilled to have the doors open again, to showcase her work, which she describes as “sculptural,” whether it’s a pair of stud earrings or a large statement necklace.

“Everything I make is one of a kind,” she said. “I like to tell patrons that it’s like farm to table jewelry; it all gets born here in this building at my bench, and then lives in the cases until the right person comes along and connects with it and takes it home.”

Saccente’s custom-made jewelry isn’t the only thing visitors to the shop can take home. There are several other local residents who have put their time, energy and passion into the shop and honoring its legacy in the village. April Gonzalez Landscaping has donated plantings around the shop, while Eric and Hilary Woodward have been maintaining a colonial style vegetable garden at the shop, with free vegetables for the public.

The shop is now open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., year round.

Masks are required, and proof of vaccination is also required for those taking the jewelry classes. A schedule for the classes is available at southamptonhistory.org/jewelry.

For his part, Edmonds is happy to see Saccente in the space, saying she’s a perfect fit to continue the long and storied history of the shop in the village.

“She’s a young businesswoman, branching out and making her own stuff,” he said. “Just like Elias Pelletreau was. We’re very lucky to have her.”