Imaginary Towns on Long Island /Real or Fancied/Town vs Area...You Decide. (New York: high schools, legally)

[TeamExit]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

I live in East Northport, which is actually south of Northport. I guess if you were at the West end of town, it would be West East South Northport.

that has bothered me for as long as i knew about it... east northport being south of northport, wtf lol

Originally Posted by TomMoser

Baywood is an area that overlaps Brentwood and Bayshore, hence "Baywood".

yea its technically bay shore, but mostly brentwood school district, and is also referred to as west brentwood, even though its bay shore zip code


theres also Regis Park section of brentwood.. which is really unofficial, its just made up by the residents i guess

[TomMoser]

Originally Posted by TeamExit

that has bothered me for as long as i knew about it... east northport being south of northport, wtf lol

Here's how it happened: The original Northport LIRR station was located further west at about Stony Hollow Road. Then, an additional station was built where it is today at Larkfield Road. The name of the new station was East Northport, as it was east of the Northport station. A town grew up around the new station and became known as East Northport.

As an interesting aside, the original Northport station was eventually done away with, and the train station that now exists in East Northport is called the Northport station.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

is Baywood a real place or realtor speak?

Yes, Baywood is a real place; but bear in mind that Baywood is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet name in their mailing address.


For those who may not be familiar with Baywood:

Baywood is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the west part of the Town of Islip, in the southwest part of Suffolk County, along the Islip/Babylon town line. There are 4 villages (municipal corporations) and 23 hamlets (unincorporated areas) all or partly in the Town of Islip.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Baywood in the Town of Islip is bordered on the north by Hamlet of Brentwood; on the east by the Hamlet of North Bay Shore and the Hamlet of Bay Shore; on the south by the Hamlet of West Islip; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Deer Park in the Town of Babylon (the Islip/Babylon town line).





Baywood is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet name in their mailing address: laces in the Hamlet of Baywood have a "Brentwood, NY 11717" and "Bay Shore, NY 11706" mailing address.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

And what's up with Wheatley Heights?

Yes, Wheatley Heights, too, is a real community; but, bear in mind that Wheatley Heights is also one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet name in their mailing address.


For those who may not be familiar with Wheatley Heights:

Wheatley Heights is a hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the north-central part of the Town of Babylon, in the southwest part of Suffolk County, along the Babylon/Huntington town line.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Wheatley Heights in the Town of Babylon is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Melville and the Hamlet of Dix Hills in the Town of Huntington (the Babylon/Huntington town line); on the east by the Hamlet of Deer Park; and, on the south and west by the Hamlet of Wyandanch.





Wheatley Heights is one of those many villages and hamlets on Long Island where none of the places in the community have the hamlet's name in their mailing address: places in Wheatley Heights have a "Melville, NY 11747" and "Wyandanch, NY 11798" mailing address.


For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns (3 in Nassau County and 10 in Suffolk County): http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[llaurenn]

South Bellmore/South Merrick...I'm surprised no one mentioned them. Although, being from North Bellmore, the fact that S. Bellmore was just a snooty neighborhood designation has always been drilled into my head

[S.I.B.]

IMO, if your address has a certain name in it (e.g. Bay Shore) and you go to Bay Shore schools...then you live in Bay Shore.

What exactly is the purpose of all of these "hamlets"?

[sean sean sean sean]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

IMO, if your address has a certain name in it (e.g. Bay Shore) and you go to Bay Shore schools...then you live in Bay Shore.

What exactly is the purpose of all of these "hamlets"?

I think you might be misunderstanding what a "hamlet" is. They aren't simply places with different names than what is in the mailing address, it's a legal definition for what people more commonly refer to as "towns". Baywood is hamlet, Wheatley Heights is a hamlet, Bay Shore is a hamlet, Brentwood is a hamlet, Wyandanch is a hamlet, etc.

In NY State, there are five basic levels of local government. The top level is the County. Counties (Nassau, Suffolk) are broken down into either Towns (North Hempstead, Babylon, Brookhaven) or Cities (Glen Cove, Long Beach, Albany). These levels have the highest degree of autonomy and thus handle the vast majority of governmental functions. Towns are further broken down into Villages (incorporated areas) and Hamlets (unincorporated areas). Incorporation means that there is another, smaller layer of local government that supercedes functions (and taxes) provided by the Town/County governments. In some cases, there are a large number of services - like police forces, garbage collection, electric/utilities - provided....in other cases, the "village" layer exists simply to dictate zoning ordinances, building codes, parking regulations, etc.

The hamlet is basically to a town as a neighborhood is to city - except whereas the boundaries of city neighborhoods are often times nothing more than colloqial, the boundaries of hamlets are almost always specific and legally defined by the Town or County. There are no governmental functions at the hamlet level - things like School Districts, Water Districts, etc. fall into a totally different layer of local government known as "special districts" and aren't related to the boundaries or governental bodies of counties, towns, villages or hamlets whatsoever. Likewise, post offices are a FEDERAL level of government and simply cover an assigned service area much like the special districts.

So for instance....I live in the HAMLET of North Wantagh, an unincorporated section of the Town of Hempstead, in Nassau County. I attended school in the Levittown Union Free School District and take books out of the Levittown Public Library. I also pay taxes for the Levittown Park District so that I can utilize their public pools and the Wantagh Fire District. These are all special districts, completely unrelated to hamlets bearing the same names. If you wanted to send me a letter, you would address is to "Wantagh, NY 11793" because I live in the service area covered by that branch of the USPS, a federal organization.

I know it's a very confusing system, and totally contrary to what most people living on LI were taught growing up....but this is exactly how it works, and has worked since before the United States was formed. Even the title of this thread is misleading, though if I'm speaking of different areas of LI, I typically (and incorrectly) just call them "towns" as well. "Hamlet" has a funky ring to it.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by llaurenn

South Bellmore/South Merrick...I'm surprised no one mentioned them. Although, being from North Bellmore, the fact that S. Bellmore was just a snooty neighborhood designation has always been drilled into my head :D

While on the official maps published by the Nassau County Planning Commission, there is a Hamlet of North Bellmore and a Hamlet of North Merrick, there is no Hamlet of South Bellmore nor a Hamet of South Merrick, other than, I'm guessing, as informal areas in the Hamlet of Bellmore and the Hamlet of Merrick, respectively.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

IMO, if your address has a certain name in it (e.g. Bay Shore) and you go to Bay Shore schools...then you live in Bay Shore.

S.I.B., http://www.city-data.com/forum/long-...you-think.html may help you understand the great geographic confusions caused by non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by sean sean sean sean

I think you might be misunderstanding what a "hamlet" is.
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I know it's a very confusing system, and totally contrary to what most people living on LI were taught growing up....but this is exactly how it works, and has worked since before the United States was formed. Even the title of this thread is misleading, though if I'm speaking of different areas of LI, I typically (and incorrectly) just call them "towns" as well. "Hamlet" has a funky ring to it.

Excellent comment, SeanX4.

I couldn't have said it better myself.