History of 205

A History of 205 East Main Street

The Bayles House was built by Beriah Petty for the Captain Thomas Bayles family in 1812 in the then-popular federalist style. The Bayles Ship Builders built 140 vessels between 1816-1917.
 
The Bayles House was home to shipbuilder Lewis Hulse during the 1840s and 1850s. Hulse was responsible for giving the home a Greek Revival-style renovation which included the elaborate door surround, 6 over 6 windows and the gray and white color scheme.
 
The library preserved the building’s “Dutch” door, 5 fireplaces, beehive oven, and the original floors which were refinished with their tin can patches.
 
The Library added a front porch based on the one seen in historic photos shared by the Port Jefferson Historical Society.
 
The Library purchased the Bayles House in 2014, began renovations in April of 2024, and opened the Teen Center at 205 East Main Street on March 14, 2025.
 

Finds From 205 East Main Street

In 2024, the Library began renovating the 1812 Bayles House into the new location of the Library’s Teen Center. The building required extensive structural and aesthetic work to meet accessibility standards, and to function in its new purpose.

The eastern exterior wall had buckled and separated from the house’s frame over time, so it was removed and replaced. When removed, a new view of the home’s sleeping loft and the brickwork of the beehive oven was revealed. There, 14 different single (left) shoes were discovered. Those shoes or a “Spiritual Midden” may have been put there by the house’s inhabitants in keeping with a common Northern European tradition* of placing shoes on brickwork, under floors, or on rafters as a blessing or magical charm as a protective spell for the occupants*. These shoes have been submitted to the Concealed Shoe Index* maintained by the Northampton, U.K. Museum.

The shoes are made of leather and appear to be hand-stitched. They range in sizes from toddler to adult. The shoes in the best condition are displayed here along with the other items found during the renovation: pieces of earthenware consistent with early American kitchen-use pottery, pieces of porcelain pottery in a variety of patterns and colors consistent with imported dishware, pieces of coal, corn cobs and walnut hulls likely collected in the floorboards and air-pockets by critters, as well as a large glass shard of a bottle from a Brooklyn Brewery.

The Library is very proud to be part of the history of the 1812 Bayles House. We recognize the work of Beriah Petty, the original builder, the Bayles, Hulse and other families and businesses who kept care over the house for centuries, and acknowledge the Setalcott Tribe as the indigenous people who stewarded this land at the time of colonial contact.

 

*https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/concealed-shoes-ward-off-witches

*https://nbm.org/the-mystery-of-the-concealed-shoes/

*https://www.northamptonmuseums.com/directory-record/250/concealed-shoes

A collection of shoes from the early 1800s from the Teen Center building.
Click images to enlarge