The Bayles Chandlery on the Bayles Shipyard provided provisions and supplies for coastal schooners and merchant vessels during the era of wooden ships, and its large upstairs room served as the informal community center in early Port Jefferson. The chandlery and shipyard went out of local ownership when James E. Bayles sold the property to Bayles Shipyard, Inc. in 1917. Using "Bayles" in its title because of the goodwill associated with the name, the new firm received government contracts from the Emergency Fleet Corporation to construct steel freighters and ocean going tugs for the nation's merchant marine. After the war, the structure had a succession of owners and uses. It was part of the 5.1-acre property owned by Mobil Oil when the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson purchased the site in 1997.