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A tale of two villages, similar but unique
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Driving back from New York on a rare sunny afternoon last week, I decided to take a fresh look at Northport, which I have always considered a sister village to Port Jefferson. Topographically the two villages are nearly identical. Both have historic downtowns reached by descending a long Main Street surrounded on either side by steep hills rising through residential streets. In both, Main Street ultimately leads to a spacious, beautiful harbor — and a view of National Grid power plant's towering red and white stacks.
I swung off Route 25A by Pumpernickels restaurant and began the long descent down the narrow two-lane road. I hadn't been in Northport for several years, and had forgotten that Main Street is still paved with concrete, in which steel trolley tracks are embedded. From 1902 to 1924 an electric trolley, for a fare of 5 cents, spared local residents the arduous uphill walk to get out of town. The automotive age finished off the trolley. (Not to be outdone, Port Jefferson's Main Street has trolley tracks of its own, now buried under many years of asphalt repavings.)
Five churches line Main Street in Northport (three in Port Jeff), and the John W. Engeman Theater is housed in a refurbished movie house (just as Theatre Three is in Port Jeff), signaling the existence of a lively cultural scene. Both villages have a prominent Masonic lodge. Like Port Jeff, Main Street in Northport is lined with shops and numerous local taverns. There is a diner and a sweet shoppe, amenities long gone from Port Jeff.
As in Port Jeff, parking in Northport is a challenge, even on a sleepy weekday afternoon. As in Port, parking meters are everywhere. Judging from their age, these old coin-in-the-slot individual meters have been a Northport fixture for decades.
I circled through a parking lot adjacent to the harborfront park, and found it full. On the street, after some difficulty, I found a spot, prudently inserted a couple of quarters, and set out to stroll the village. My first stop was the police station, a large, official-looking brick building. I was curious to compare the police structure in the two villages. Port Jefferson, which incorporated after creation of the Suffolk County police department, is restricted to unarmed constables with no powers beyond enforcing village ordinances and parking.
At a window marked Dispatcher, a friendly young officer said Northport's long-established police force has the same full powers as Suffolk County cops — they carry weapons, can issue speeding tickets and make arrests. "There's a small jail cell in the back," he told me helpfully.
The composition of the two business sections is remarkably similar — gift shops, law offices, galleries, clothing stores, restaurants. Northport has one big advantage — a hardware store — while Port Jefferson's claim to fame is its ferry line.
Northport has an edge in celebrities. The actress Edie Falco and the Broadway star Patti LuPone grew up here. Jack Kerouac, a pioneer of the Beat Generation, lived in Northport for six years and drank in local taverns. Norman Thomas, who ran for president six times on the Socialist Party ticket, lived nearby. Port Jefferson had the great Metropolitan Opera soprano Eleanor Steber (nearby in Belle Terre), and the first woman elected mayor of a Long Island incorporated village, Sandra Swenk. She is still a resident.
The two communities, so similar in size, topography, attributes and problems, really are sisters. And located far enough apart never to be jealous rivals.
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