Correcting NEWSDAY's Community profile: Bellport (Brookhaven, Medford: buying, college, live)

[Walter Greenspan]

Relying on a map that shows city, town, village and postal zone, but not hamlet, borders, in its weekly (Friday) "Buying In" article, NEWSDAY once again mistakes the borders of a same-named postal zone for the borders of the community whose name the postal zone "shares".

Here's the NEWSDAY article:

Buying in Bellport -- Newsday.com (broken link)

The article incorrectly implies that Bellport includes North Bellport.


For those who may not be familiar with Bellport:

Bellport is a village (incorporated in 1908) is in the southwest part of the Town of Brookhaven, in the center-south part of Suffolk County.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Village of Bellport in the Town of Brookhaven is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of North Bellport and the Hamlet of Brookhaven; on the east by Bellport Bay and the Great South Bay; on the south by the Great South Bay; and, on the west by the Hamlet of East Patchogue.

The Village of Bellport has a different border than does the "Bellport, NY 11713" ZIP Code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Bellport, NY 11713" mailing address and not be in the Village of Bellport and a place can have other than a "Bellport, NY 11713" mailing address and be in the Village of Bellport): places with a "Bellport, NY 11713" mailing address that are not in the Village of Bellport are in the Hamlet of East Patchogue and the Hamlet of North Bellport; and, at the same time, there are places in the Village of Bellport that have a "Patchogue, NY 11772" 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):

//www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[Walter Greenspan]

The article incorrectly implies that Bellport includes North Bellport.

For those who may not be familiar with North Bellport:

North Bellport is a hamlet (an unincorporated community) in the southwest part of the Town of Brookhaven, in the center-south part of Suffolk County.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of North Bellport in the Town of Brookhaven is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Medford and the Hamlet of Yaphank; on the east by the Hamlet of Yaphank and the Hamlet of Brookhaven; on the south by the Village of Bellport; and, on the west by the Hamlet of East Patchogue and the Hamlet of Medford.

North Bellport 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: places in the Hamlet of North Bellport have a "Bellport, NY 11713", "Patchogue, NY 11772", "Medford, NY 11763" and "Brookhaven, NY 11719" 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):

//www.city-data.com/forum/long-...-resource.html

[XLIGuy]

Hi Walter,

I am new to this site but love it and I really like your knowledge about Long Island. I am a native of Long Island. I was born and raised in Amityville and then lived in East Hampton as a teenager. I left Long Island in 1982 to attend college in PA and never moved back.
What always puzzled me about the hamlets (unincorporated areas) of the Island is why they do not have their own zip codes? And why do the incorporated villages share their zip codes with the unincoporated hamlets? Wouldn't be less confusing for people if these hamlets had their own zip codes? And wouldn't it give these hamlets a sense of identity as well?

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by XLIGuy

I am new to this site but love it and I really like your knowledge about Long Island.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by XLIGuy

What always puzzled me about the hamlets (unincorporated areas) of the Island is why they do not have their own zip codes? And why do the incorporated villages share their zip codes with the unincoporated hamlets?

Just like some villages, some hamlets have their names associated with a non-conforming ZIP Code postal zone.

The underlying reason for the prevalence of non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones is because the USPS does not care one wit about community identity, and designed the current system of non-conforming ZIP Code postal zones for its benefit:

//www.city-data.com/forum/long-...where-you.html

[XLIGuy]

Why, I should have known....? Our Federal Government (USPS) is behind this! Thanks for your reply, Walter.