In 1923, Alvah Goldsmith was a foreman at an auto dealership in Southold on Long Island when he bought a 4-hp Evinrude outboard for personal use. He liked it so much that he wrote to the manufacturer to compliment the motor. To his surprise, company founder Ole Evinrude replied and suggested that if Goldsmith enjoyed the engine so much, he might consider becoming a dealer. The offer required only the purchase of one additional engine to sell.
Goldsmith discussed the idea with his father, who was skeptical. “I don’t know who would buy the cussed things,” his father told him. Goldsmith bought the extra engine anyway, and that choice redirected his life. It launched a business that would become one of the country’s oldest continuously operating marine dealerships. Today, Goldsmith’s Boat Shop in Southold is celebrating its 100th year.
When Alvah Goldsmith died in 1980, his son Alvah Jr., known by his childhood nickname Skip, took over and guided the business for nearly four decades. Skip, now 83 and still president, has gradually shifted day-to-day responsibilities to his sons Glenn and Craig, the third generation running the family company.
“We don’t have an exact founding date, but the letter from Evinrude is dated December 1923,” Glenn says. The brothers chose to mark the centennial in August to coincide with peak boating season, hosting a celebration that highlighted the yard’s long history and brought many stories from past customers and employees to light.
“After Evinrude made the dealership offer, my father sold motors from the front porch of his house,” Skip recalls. “He began storing motors in a barn and selling them to local fishermen and residents who wanted to get out on the water.”
Glenn adds, “My grandfather was the founder of the recreational marine industry on the North Fork of Long Island.”
In 1931 Goldsmith moved the business from a small inland site to two acres on Southold Bay at Founders Landing. The shop endured the Depression and even the collapse of a storage shed during the 1938 hurricane. The company remained a small, local operation until World War II, when Goldsmith began building boats for the U.S. Navy.
“He wanted to contribute to the war effort and felt his business could build boats for the military,” Skip says. After trips to Whitehall Street in New York City to meet with Navy officials, the company received its first contracts. That marked Goldsmith’s entry into boatbuilding.
“The first contract was for 10 boats from 24 to 35 feet long, designed to carry torpedoes, bombs and similar gear,” Skip explains. These “plane rearming boats” were intended to service seaplanes in the Pacific. At the time the company employed 48 people; finished boats underwent speed trials, were weighed, and then shipped on railroad flatcars. During the war the property was fenced and guarded.
After the war, in 1946, Goldsmith purchased the 17-acre former Sanford Brickyard on Mill Creek, a mile and a half from Founders Landing along Main Road, where the company remains today. By then the shop had about 10 employees and transitioned away from military contracts to selling and servicing small recreational craft to meet growing civilian demand.
“I started working here when I was 14,” Skip says, though he remembers being around the yard even earlier. Even while attending college and serving as a U.S. Air Force mechanic, he always expected to return. He came back to the business in 1964 and became owner when his father died of pancreatic cancer in 1980 at age 74.
The Covid-19 pandemic prompted Skip to step back from some on-site duties for health reasons, and it also disrupted the business. “Covid just about shut everything down,” he says. “Parts, motors and boats were hard to get, even for boats priced over $100,000. Demand returned gradually but not fully; shortages persist.” Despite the challenges, closing was never an option. “We just kept plugging along and wondering what’s next,” Skip says.
Craig, born in the mid-1970s, left home after high school to try other jobs, but the family business kept pulling him back. “In 1999 I decided this was going to be my career,” he says. Glenn, now 46, began working at the marina at age 10. Both brothers worked summers and weekends at Founders Landing and later at the Main Road yard; Glenn returned full time in 1999 after college.
Glenn spent time away from the shop working for Sea Tow, the international marine assistance company founded in Southold, while keeping part-time hours at Goldsmith’s. He returned full-time in 2020 as his father’s health declined.
“They’re doing a super job,” Skip says of his sons. “Glenn handles the business side, and Craig is a salesperson who remembers people and their families. They make a great combination.”
Glenn often reflects on his father’s long hours and dedication: “My dad ran the shop seven days a week, often coming back after dinner.”
Since Evinrude no longer manufactures engines, Goldsmith’s now sells Yamaha outboards and boats by Scout, DuraNautic and Achilles. The marina rents 110 slips and is restoring an eroded spit of land that protects the outer dock, with plans to add more slips for owners on a waiting list.
“Many of our customers have been with us for decades because this is a family business,” Glenn says. “We treat them like family.”
One longtime customer, 80-year-old Joe Stepnowski of Southold, has been with Goldsmith’s for more than 40 years. He recalls buying a boat late in the season with nowhere to store it; Skip told him to place it in the marina and worry about payment the following year. “That’s why I’m still here,” Stepnowski says. “They treat you like a customer, not a number, and they’re very knowledgeable.”
Craig notes that the shop is now serving customers across generations: “We see people who dealt with my dad and now their kids are boating with us.”
The company also values long-term employees. Mark Hodun of Riverhead, 56, originally worked at the yard for 13 years starting in the mid-1980s, left for another marina, and returned 12 years ago. “I do a little bit of everything,” he says. “The Goldsmiths are easy to work for. They know what I can do.”
Many wonder what happened to Alvah’s original 1923 Evinrude. The family doesn’t know its fate, but they have collected other antique Evinrude outboards, including one from 1913, and are creating a mini-museum to display the collection.
Looking ahead, some expect ownership to move to the next generation—Glenn’s sons Landon, 15, and Reed, 13, have worked at the marina pumping gas and doing chores. The family is not pressuring them to decide now. “It’s there for them if they want it,” Glenn says, “but they should keep their options open.”
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.