Port Jefferson, NY
The Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson is located in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 census, the village population was 7,837. The downtown section of the village by the water is always alive every summer weekend with people crowding the sidewalks.
Port Jefferson at one time was a small ship building community, with the name Drowned Meadow. The community leaders, realizing this was a poor name for the ship building business, eventually changed its name to Port Jefferson after President Thomas Jefferson. The town was once a major whaling port, especially in the 1880's.
The Village was named after Jefferson because he was the major source of funding for a project to prevent the flooding of the lower village from whence the original name originated -- drowned meadow.
P.T. Barnum, the famous circus owner, owned a tract of land which ran through the village. His intention was to make Port Jefferson the home base for his circus. The townspeople put a stop to his plans, and he eventually sold his land. A road named "Barnum Ave." now runs though the area that was once his land.
The Village of Port Jefferson was incorporated in 1964.