Originally named Mt. Misery by the Europeans who purchased the land from local Native Americans, the little village bordered by Port Jefferson and the Long Island Sound was renamed Belle Terre - meaning beautiful land in French - by a New York City real estate developer with a vision of what it could become at the turn of the 20th century.

 

These historical photos show just a glimpse of what the village that became a lush and wealthy enclave and infamous in the 1980s for a murder that resulted in a wrongful conviction of a son who was accused of killing his parents.

 

Pergola, Belle Terre, Port Jefferson, Long Island

 

Photo: 1906 Aug. 2. [Pergola, Belle Terre, Port Jefferson, Long Island] / Greene, Port Jefferson, L.I. No known restrictions on publication.

 

Old homestead, Belle Terre, Long Island

 

Photo: 1908 July 2. Old homestead, Belle Terre, Long Island / Greene, Port Jefferson, L.I. Greene, A. S. (Arthur Smedley), photographer. No known restrictions on publication.

 

The lodge, Belle Terre, Port Jefferson, Long Island

 

Photo: 1906 Aug. 2. [The lodge, Belle Terre, Port Jefferson, Long Island] / Greene, Port Jefferson, L.I. No known restrictions on publication.