hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
(CDP) on
eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, United States. The population was 6,510 at the 2010 census.
Most of Calverton is in the Town of Riverhead, while the area south of the
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
arrived in 1844. The station closed in 1958, but the sheltered shed for the station remained standing as of 2007.
The area's Native American name was ''Conungum'' or ''Kanungum'', meaning "fixed line" or "boundary". In 1868, the Calverton post office opened, named for Bernard J. Calvert. It remained a small farming community specializing in
cranberries
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...
, which grew in swampy areas along the
Peconic River
The Peconic River is a river within Suffolk County on Long Island, New York.Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton
Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton (NWIRP) was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility which had the mission of designing, fabricating, and testing prototype aircraft from 1956 until 1996, in Riverhead, New York, Un ...
. In 1953, the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
purchased around Calverton from a local farmer named Harry Edwards, including the mansion of a grandson of Frank Winfield Woolworth's, so that
Grumman
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...
could test and finish jets. A runway was built, and most of Grumman's
F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...
and
E-2C Hawkeye
The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable tactical Airborne early warning and control, airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed duri ...
aircraft were to pass through the plant.
In 1965,
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
proposed using the base as the fourth major airport for the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
. Grumman and local opposition ended the quest.
In 1978, more than of the base were used to create Calverton National Cemetery, which is the largest and busiest (in terms of burials per day)
United States national cemetery
The United States National Cemetery System is a system of 164 cemeteries in the United States and its territories. The authority to create military burial places came during the American Civil War, in an act passed by the U.S. Congress o ...
. In 1995, after Northrop acquired Grumman, the new
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...
pulled out of the base, and the Navy began liquidating the land. In 1996, before the base could be turned over the Town of Riverhead, the base was used to reassemble the wreckage of
TWA Flight 800
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. K ...
which had crashed about south in the ocean. In 2000, Skydive Long Island (formerly located at East Moriches) moved to the airport, and to this day continues to generate the majority of the current air traffic as a key destination for New York-based
skydivers
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
F ...
.
Through 2007, debates raged about whether or not to turn the base into a mega complex around a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
track, called EPCAL Centre, or a giant ski resort based construction of an artificial high indoor ski mountain. In January 2008, the Riverhead Town Board, with newly elected officers, signed a deal to sell the airport for $155 million to Riverhead Resorts, to build the ski mountain, tear up the airport runway, and replace it with a lake, overruling a December vote to give the NASCAR track the go-ahead. It would have taken up to three years to get the necessary environmental permits, and the proposed opening date of the project was 2012. On November 12, 2010, however, the town of Riverhead voted 4-1 to cancel all plans for the indoor ski resort/water park.
A portion of the base is being developed as an industrial/office park.
Several new medium size industrial companies have sprung up in the area, including Crown Recycling and a Federal Express Distribution Center.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.82%, is water.
The former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant became the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton (IATA code "CTO") in the late 20th century.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2000, there were 5,704 people, 2,539 households, and 1,518 families residing in the CDP. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 203.7 per square mile (78.7/km2). There were 2,735 housing units at an average density of 97.7/sq mi (37.7/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 86.61%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 7.66%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.04%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 2.03% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.26% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 6.07% of the population.
There were 2,539 households, out of which 22.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.1% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.2% were non-families. 34.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.3% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 25.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.0 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $36,544, and the median income for a family was $44,342. Males had a median income of $40,184 versus $33,047 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the CDP was $26,609. About 6.5% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the
poverty threshold
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 13.1% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
WPTY
WPTY (105.3 FM, "Party 105") is a rhythmic hot AC formatted station licensed to Calverton- Roanoke, New York and serving eastern Long Island. The station is owned by JVC Media LLC with studios located in Ronkonkoma, New York and transmitter l ...
is
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...