The Jazz Loft — music venue
The original use of this old building is not fully clear. Also known as the Stone Jug, it may have been a hoe or merely a storage facility for Jonas Smith. Later called Union Hall, over the years it served many purposes, including a general store, a tinsmith shop, and a factory for the manufacture of “lawn tennis shoes”. In 1886, a frame addition was constructed at the rear or west end of the building, greatly expanding its use, as it then faced two sides of the town triangle intersection. As late as 1941 the Odd Fellows hall was on its left and the Mills House on its right. Directly behind it once stood the garage to the Oakes-Dickerson House. In the early 1930s, O.C. Lempfert, avid hunter and taxidermist along with Dr. Winifred Curtis established a natural history museum comprised of hunting trophies and specimens which were displayed at friend Archie Rayner’s home. The neighborhood children were being brought to see this collection as early as 1935 on Saturdays and naturalist Robert Murphy o, of R.C. Murphy Jr. High School, led some of the nature walks. When the Rayner home was sold in 1939, Dr. Curtis appealed for help from Mrs. Ward Melville to find a new location for the collection. Persuaded by Mrs. Melville, the collection was moved to the empty building known as the Stone Jug, owned by local pharmacist Charles J. Zimmerlein. The Little Museum in the Jug as it came to be called, was formally incorporated as the Suffolk Museum on December 28, 1939 and the museum was quoted in regard to the move saying, “The move was no small task since by that time the collection include a 400-pound loggerhead turtle, an eagle with a 6-foot wingspread, a trumpeter swan, and hundreds of small collection items.” The original use of this old building is not fully clear. Also known as the Stone Jug, it may have been a hoe or merely a storage facility for Jonas Smith. Later called Union Hall, over the years it served many purposes, including a general store, a tinsmith shop, and a factory for the manufacture of “lawn tennis shoes”. In 1886, a frame addition was constructed at the rear or west end of the building, greatly expanding its use, as it then faced two sides of the town triangle intersection. As late as 1941 the Odd Fellows hall was on its left and the Mills House on its right. Directly behind it once stood the garage to the Oakes-Dickerson House. In the early 1930s, O.C. Lempfert, avid hunter and taxidermist along with Dr. Winifred Curtis established a natural history museum comprised of hunting trophies and specimens which were displayed at friend Archie Rayner’s home. The neighborhood children were being brought to see this collection as early as 1935 on Saturdays and naturalist Robert Murphy o, of R.C. Murphy Jr. High School, led some of the nature walks. When the Rayner home was sold in 1939, Dr. Curtis appealed for help from Mrs. Ward Melville to find a new location for the collection. Persuaded by Mrs. Melville, the collection was moved to the empty building known as the Stone Jug, owned by local pharmacist Charles J. Zimmerlein. The Little Museum in the Jug as it came to be called, was formally incorporated as the Suffolk Museum on December 28, 1939 and the museum was quoted in regard to the move saying, “The move was no small task since by that time the collection include a 400-pound loggerhead turtle, an eagle with a 6-foot wingspread, a trumpeter swan, and hundreds of small collection items.”
Address: 275 Christian Avenue, Stony Brook, New York 11790, United States
Phone: +1 (631) 751-1895