Port Jefferson, NY real estate market

Port Jefferson sits in the Town of Brookhaven, on the North Shore of Long Island, and it grew up around a working harbor. The name changed twice before it stuck. Early settlers called it Sowaysset, a Native American term, then it became Drowned Meadow in 1682. In 1836 the town built a causeway to raise the flood prone harborfront and renamed itself Port Jefferson, after Thomas Jefferson. By 1825 shipbuilding firms lined the harbor, and the industry grew into the largest in Suffolk County, with vessels built here as late as 1877 for the New Bedford whaling trade.

The shipbuilding era ended in 1923 when the Bayles Shipyard was sold to Standard Oil and most of its buildings were torn down. The harbor then served oil transport, gravel handling, and later a coal fired power plant. The village incorporated in 1963 and started turning its old industrial waterfront into something people could walk through. The former Mather and Jones Shipyard became Chandler Square in 1976. Harborfront Park opened in 2004 on a former shipyard and oil terminal site, with picnic grounds, a seasonal ice rink, and a promenade. Danfords Hotel and Marina folded historic structures into a working marina and pier. A cluster of older buildings tied to this history was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Main Street still shapes how the village works day to day. Lower Port Jefferson, down by the water, is the tourist and shopping stretch. Upper Port Jefferson, up by the Long Island Rail Road station a mile away, sits at a different elevation and has been the target of ongoing revitalization efforts. Around Main Street the land breaks into hillside neighborhoods, including Harbor Hills near Mount Sinai Harbor, Brick Hill just west of the lower business area, and Cedar Hill, topped by an 1859 cemetery with views over the village. For a buyer, that split between Upper and Lower Port Jefferson matters. Property near the water sits closer to the ferry terminal and shops, while property up near the train station puts you closer to the LIRR's Port Jefferson Branch, the line's eastern end.