Remsenburg is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

located in the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. There are no stoplights and no businesses other than the post office and churches.

History

As early as 1712, meadows in Speonk were leased to cattle-owners from Southampton. Most of the early settlers of Speonk came west from Southampton and Bridgehampton in the 1740s to clear the forests and build farms. During the 1880s, duck farms thrived in Speonk and neighboring Eastport, but few survived into the 20th Century, and none remain today. The name Speonk was inspired by a Native American word meaning ''high place''. An 1897

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad 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 County on Long Islan ...

catalog listed Speonk, noting that that name "certainly sounds like the call of a frog." Some residents pressed to change the name to Remsenburg, to honor a prominent resident, ''Charles Remsen'', who had donated a new

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

. Today, both names remain in use, each covering different areas of the community. The area close to the bay is called Remsenburg, and the more bucolic inland area is still called Speonk. During the twentieth century, its most famous resident was the English writer

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

. He wrote many of the escapades of

Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intellige ...

and his manservant,

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

, from a home on Basket Neck Lane in Remsenburg. Other residents of note include the songwriter

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser ( "lesser"; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls (musical), Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business ...

, who wrote for Broadway shows including ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

''; the playwright

Guy Bolton Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical theatre, musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. B ...

, who collaborated with Wodehouse on '' Anything Goes;'' Marvel Comics editor

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

; Sandy Becker, a

children's

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

Dave Garroway David Cunningham Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982) was an American Celebrity, television personality. He was the founding host and anchor of NBC's ''Today (American TV program), Today'' from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing and relaxing style ...

, the original host of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' when it first aired in January 1952, and Leo-Arthur Kelmenson, advertising executive known for his association with

Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then reviv ...

and his advertising campaign for

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

. Remsenburg is an exclusive area, and many well known actress/actors/playwrights/directors live in this hamlet of Southampton.

Geography

Remsenburg is located at

geographic coordinates A geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or geodetic coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest, and most widely used type of the various ...

40° 48' 28" North, 72° 42' 32" West (40.807709, -72.708923). Remsenburg is located within the Town of Southampton, County of Suffolk, and adjoins Moriches Bay. It is considered to be geographically, historically, and culturally part of the

Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...

External links

Newsday - Long Island History: Remsenburg (at www.archive.org)

Where Does the Hamptons Actually Begin and End?
{{authority control Southampton (town), New York Hamlets in Suffolk County, New York Hamlets in New York (state) Populated coastal places in New York (state)