Bellport Academy

The large building northwest of the intersection of Academy Lane and Gerard Street is a private home that was built in 1833 as the "Bellville Academy." Later renamed Bellport Academy when the name of the village changed, it served as a schoolhouse until 1902. The original location was across from the west end of School Street (Osborne Lane). The abandoned building was sold to a contractor named George Corman who moved the structure across the street, opposite the Academy Lane Cemetery, where it served as a carpenter shop. The building was moved again in 1919 about 500 feet south onto a former golf course by new owners, the Lloyd family, who had the building renovated to become their private residence. A curving driveway leads from Gerard Street through a gap in the hedge border to the entrance of the private home. The Bellport Academy building was listed in the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1980. The building is near the Village of Bellport Historic District, also listed in 1980 (see the attached map).

Bellport Academy was the first school in the Village of Bellport. The village was laid out after Captain Thomas Bell bought the land in 1829. The academy was begun in the 1830s by the Reverend Ezra King of the South Haven Presbyterian Church. Reverend George Tomlinson served as the first principal of Bellport Academy. Shares in the school were sold to local residents to raise funds for the school. The builders were Samuel Brown, Clark Homan, Aldrich Brothers, and Isaac Hudson. The first principal was Mr. Hinsdale. There was only a single teacher in the early years; a second was added in 1869. Ninety-two pupils attended in 1872.

The building was used for church services until a local church was constructed. The first floor of the academy building was used as classrooms for general instruction; the second floor once housed a military school for Spanish students who immigrated to Long Island; at other times, it was used as a dance hall. Soon, an addition was built onto the rear of the structure for additional classroom space. In 1861, the stockholders sold the building to the local school district. A larger school building was constructed and the old academy building closed in 1902. The bronze bell from the school building's belfry, cast in 1833, was displayed in a local museum in the 1970s - the Barn Museum of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society. One of the large stoves that heated the school found its way by 1951 to the Armstrong and Piermann shop on Bell Street.

Dr. T. Mortimer Lloyd and his wife, Anne P.L. purchased the building in 1919 to be their residence; Anne was a poet who wrote an article on the house for the March 1925 issue of Country Life magazine. The family, from Brooklyn, had rented property in Bellport before this time as a summer home. Walter Granville Smith was the architect for the renovations to turn the acdemy into a private home; a kitchen wing and a side porch were added. The Lloyds called the home "The Belfry." Mr. Lloyd died in 1937; Mrs. Lloyd spent summers here until her death in 1948. The Lloyd children sold the house to Mr.and Mrs. George W. Elder of Jackson Heights in 1951. The home was bought in 1966 by Mr. and Mrs. David D. Jacobus. Mr. Jacobus was formerly a drama and film critic with the Boston Herald; Mrs. Jacobus was a Radcliffe College graduate.

The property was purchased in 2001 by Thomas O'Brien, a professional interior designer and creator of the design firm AEROStudios and the AERO brand of furniture and furnishings. O'Brien spent two years renovating the house and grounds and uses the house as a weekend home and escape from New York City. O'Brien added a new building called "the Library" on the property as extra living space.

Anonymous. "Bellport." County Review (Riverhead, NY) March 12th 1925. 12-12.

Anonymous. "School is Sold." The Advance (Patchogue, N.Y.) October 18th 1951. , 2 sec, 1-2.

Anonymous. "Historical Long Island." Suffolk County News (Sayville, N.Y.) August 13th 1964. 2 sec, 1-3.

Anonymous. "Activites of Interest in Patchogue." Long Island Advance (Patchogue, N.Y.) January 29th 1970. 2 sec, 1-1.

Anonymous. "Museum Musings." Long Island Advance (Pachogue, N.Y.) July 27th 1978. 12-12.

Brinkley, Rob. Rufino, Robert. Lagnese, Francesco. Personal Scrapbook. Veranda. May 1st 2017. 82 - 89.

O'Brien, Austin. NRHP Multiple Resource Area Nomination of Village of Bellport Historic District and Bellport Academy. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.