Hamlet (New York)

In New York, a hamlet is a community that is not incorporated as a village, i.e. an unincorporated community. Hamlets usually have names based off of a local school district, post office, or fire district. Because a hamlet has no government of its own, the town it is in provides municipal services and government.

Suffolk County makes maps that give hamlet boundaries, but towns with Suffolk County also publish maps that conflict both in the number of hamlets and their boundaries.  Nevertheless, all land not within a village is administered by the town.

Most of the rest of New York's hamlets have less defined boundaries, and most towns have areas that are not considered to be a part of any hamlet. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) puts hamlet names on rectangular green signs with white lettering at roadside locations of its choosing. The NYSDOT and local governments also provide community identification signs on some scenic byways to be placed at the roadside boundaries of hamlets, as decided by the sign provider. Many hamlets have welcome signs at the gateways to the hamlets.

Some hamlets are former villages that have ended their incorporation (Old Forge in Herkimer County; Rosendale, in Ulster County; and Andes in Delaware County, for example).

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Category:Local government in the United States