What is a Hamlet?

A hamlet is a community. The Town of Babylon is comprised of ten hamlets and three incorporated villages.  The hamlets are: Copiague ● Deer Park ● East Farmingdale ● North Amityville ● North Babylon ● North Lindenhurst ● West Babylon ● Wheatley Heights ● Wyandanch ● And, the barrier beach communities of Captree Island, Gilgo Beach, Oak Beach, Oak Island and West Gilgo Beach. 

Local governments in the state of New York include counties, cities, towns and villages. The communities within Town governments are known as “hamlets.” 

The term “hamlet” does not have a legal definition under NYS law, but is used to identify communities within Towns (such as the Town of Babylon) that are not part of incorporated villages, sometimes referred to as “unincorporated communities.” 

A hamlet does not have its own government and is under the jurisdiction of its Town for municipal services (e.g. garbage pick-up, building codes). Causing great confusion … hamlets have no official boundaries. (Outside of the state of New York, the term “hamlet” is rarely used.)

Generally, the hamlet of Wheatley Heights is bounded on the west by Little East Neck Road, and the delineation between Wheatley Heights and Wyandanch is Nicolls Road, on the south, and Straight Path, on the east. On the north, Wheatley Heights is bordered by the Town of Huntington. When the Town of Babylon separated from Huntington in 1872, the division was made “one mile north of the Long Island Rail Road.”