NYS Geographic Glossary (island, interest)

[BuffaloTransplant]

Thank you, Dessert Inspector!

My Fire Dept. is TownLine and we still have both US and Confederate flags on the symbol.

I guess your family is the family Kidder Rd. was named for??

I died laughing when I read President Truman had no idea how to "accept" Townline back into the "Union" as its secession was forgotten from 1865 to 1946.

Locals rejoice when other locals who know the history!!! I know it as my neighbors' farm was abutting Townline in the 1860s when it sececed.

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by BuffaloTransplant

I really do not know its physical boundaries, except for the road markers and the fact there is a road called, amazingly, Townline ( I think most areas have that).

If you ever find a map of its boundaries, I'd love a link.

You can get a fact sheet for any city, village or hamlet in New York by going here American FactFinder and input the name of the city, village or CDP for "city/town" (leave out the ZIP Code) and New York for "State", and then click "GO". (CDP or Census Designated Place is the Census Bureau equivalent for a hamlet in "Noo Yawk".)

You'll get a lot of demographic, and some economic, statistics for the city, village or hamlet you selected, and if you click on "Reference map" (it's on the right hand side), you'll get a map.

And, voilà, here's A Map of the Hamlet of Town Line in the Town of Alden and the Town of Lancaster in Erie County:

[Digital_Duck]

Townline used to be called Two Rod ... it was a railroad spur train stop

[BuffaloTransplant]

The historical maps (1861) have Townline station just east of Ransom at Erie St. (just a foundation now and on a neighbors' farm) and the "new" TownLine Station was just east of Town Line Rd. Even the old maps called it Townline Rd. There is a single track RR and the newer station had a tiny bit of track to pull in (I guess that is what you call a spur)-- that station and all got pulled down about 6 years ago -- its all gone. The trains run several times a day and all night. (sometimes so loaded they shake the area)

[Digital_Duck]

its been so long since I lived in that area ... my grandparents lived on what in the old days was nicknamed Tobacco Road (it was something like Steinfield Road) - back when the houses had an out house and hand pump in the kitchen

It was on the other side of the tracks from Erie Street

[BuffaloTransplant]

It is Steinfeldt now. On the village side ( west) they are actually building a development south of Erie St. The creek that runs under the RR to the east of there runs across our property north and east of there.

Never heard Tobacco Rd.

[Digital_Duck]

Tobacco Rd was a derogatory reference to the people who lived there back in the 50's and 60's.

[BigD_JT_14221]

Originally Posted by Walter Greenspan

Here's one for you:

What hamlet in which town and county in New York State has a Connecticut ZIP Code?

I don't see any zip codes anywhere physically in NYS that start "06...." so now I'm curious. Where is it?

[Walter Greenspan]

Originally Posted by BigD_JT_14221

I don't see any zip codes anywhere physically in NYS that start "06...." so now I'm curious. Where is it? :think:

The island hamlet of Fishers Island in the Town of Southold, Suffolk County is in the 06390 ZIP Code postal zone.

Fishers Island is a very interesting and geographically unique place:

A map of the Hamlet of Fishers Island in the Town of Southold, Suffolk County:


Fishers Island is an island hamlet (an unincorporated area) in the extreme northeast section of the Town of Southold, in the extreme northeast part of Suffolk County, and is closer to Connecticut than to the rest of Long Island.

Fishers Island is located in Long Island Sound and is to the northeast of Plum Island and the Hamlet of Orient, also in the Town of Southold, and is just 5 miles offshore from New London, CT.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Wpdms_ev26188_fishers_island.jpg (broken link)


Fishers Island is unique in many ways, one of which is that while it certainly is part of New York State, it has a Connecticut ZIP Code.

If you or I want to write to a person or company located on Fishers Island, the last line of the mailing address -- it's "postal city" -- is Fishers Island, CT 06390.

Mail to and from Fishers Island is handled within a facility in the New London, CT Post Office. The manager of the New London-Fishers Island ferry lives in New London and on his way to work on Fishers Island picks up the mail bag with the incoming mail at the New London Post Office and in the evening, when he returns to New London, drops off a bag of outgoing mail.

Ownership of Fishers Island was claimed by both Connecticut and New York. State ownership was not settled until 1878 when a joint commission from the two states finally decided that "New York has the title having had actual possession for more than a century". The decision was based on a prior 1664 decision that the southern boundary of Connecticut was the northern shore of Long Island Sound. (I translate this to mean that the southern border of Connecticut is the low water mark.)

The Town Board of the Town of Southold and representatives of each department in the Town journey by boat every August to Fishers Island to conduct a board meeting. This is done as a courtesy and is not required by law.

A good source (one I have not read yet) is "Fishers Island, NY, 1614-1925" by Henry L. Ferguson, 1925 and subsequently reprinted.

Fishers Island has two additional geographic quirks:

1. It is the only part of Suffolk County not in the R.C. Diocese of Rockville Centre. Fishers Island is in the R.C. Diocese of Norwich. (Meanwhile, the R.C. Diocese of Rockville Centre is the only R.C. Diocese not named after a city; Rockville Centre is a village in the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County.) Fishers Island is in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island (so is Brooklyn and Queens, along with all of Nassau and Suffolk)

2. Between Fishers Island and Orient (Orient, as its name suggests, is the eastern most point on the north fork) is Plum Island. Plum Island is the U.S.D.A.'s animal disease experimental station.

[BigD_JT_14221]

Thanks Walter! That is some great information. I almost feel I should've known that little nugget of info as I have family in Montauk and I spent a good deal of time out there as a kid, but I don't recall ever hearing of Fishers Island.