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Belle Terre

Developer's Dream Hit a Hard Road

Beginnings: This upscale village on the east side of Port Jefferson Harbor traces its roots to a deed obtained in 1660 from the Setauket Indians by a British adventurer named John Scott and a second deed of 1687 to Richard Woodhull, William Smith and Richard Floyd Jr. Early names were Mount Misery Neck and Oakwood.

Great Expectations: Modern Belle Terre evolved from the short-lived dream of Dean Alvord, a rich New York City real estate man who began development in 1912 of what he intended to be a bastion of wealth and privilege to rival Newport, R.I. Alvord's dream turned into a nightmare with the economic tumult of World War I. He went bankrupt before making much progress. But Alvord, who built Roslyn Estates and completed Brooklyn's South Prospect Park, was a big thinker. He named his exclusive development Belle Terre (``Beautiful Earth'') Estates, reflecting the hilly, treed seaside location. He built a magnificent private club (destroyed by fire in 1934), a golf course, a beach club, miles of bridle paths, and insisted that the roads follow the contours of the land in natural curves. Alvord hired the famous architect Stanford White to design the gatehouse (now village hall), erected some luxurious Tudor-style homes (he took the first one) for sale to club members only, and erected two large, open-topped arbor trellises with fluted Grecian columns facing Long Island Sound (destroyed by a hurricane in 1938). The dream was barely emerging when the bubble burst.

The Dream Recast. Some of the land fell into the hands of sand and gravel companies, which in the absence of zoning laws began mining and dredging operations that lasted for years during the 1920s and resulted in litigation that extended into the 1930s. The 596-acre, all-residential village was incorporated in 1930, and tight control put on development. The village now has about 850 residents.

Where to Find More: ``The Seven Hills of Port Jefferson,'' by Patricia and Robert Sisler, and papers by village historian Nancy Orth, Port Jefferson Free Library.