Strongs Neck 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 ...

and

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

just south of

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

and

in Suffolk County,

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, on the North Shore of

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 ...

. Strongs Neck is part of the

Town of Brookhaven Brookhaven is a large suburban town in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. With a population of 488,497 as of 2022, it is the second most populous town in New York (after Hempstead, in the adjacent Nassau County) and the third most popu ...

. Census data is included in Setauket-East Setauket, New York. It was originally known as Little Neck. In the 17th century it was the home of

William "Tangier" Smith William "Tangier" Smith (February 2, 1655 – February 18, 1705) was a governor of English Tangier, Tangier, on the coast of Morocco, and an early settler of Province of New York, New York who owned more than of Atlantic Ocean waterfront property ...

who, through purchases and land grants, owned most of Brookhaven with property stretching from Shirley on the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest to Riverhead in the northeast as well as all of

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...

. Smith's great-granddaughter Anna (who was part of the Setauket Spy Ring during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

) married Selah Strong and the neck was renamed Strong's Neck. Anna was to coordinate communication among the spies via the color of clothes hung on her

clothes line A clothes line, also spelled clothesline, also known as a wash line, is a device for hanging clothes on for the purpose of drying or airing out the articles. It is made of any type of rope, cord, wire, or twine that has been stretched bet ...

on Strong's Neck. The Strong family still owns the site of the original Smith mansion and William "Tangier" Smith and many of his progeny are buried there.

References

{{BrookhavenNY Brookhaven, New York Hamlets in New York (state) Hamlets in Suffolk County, New York