Stony Brook, New York
Encyclopedia
Stony Brook is a hamlet (unincorporated
community and census-designated place
) located in the Town of Brookhaven
in Suffolk County, New York
, which is on the North Shore
of Long Island
. The population was 13,727 at the 2000 census.
Located on the picturesque North Shore of Long Island
, the area is home to, among other things, the State University of New York at Stony Brook
, The Stony Brook School, and "Stony Brook Village." The history of the unincorporated "village" has been closely linked to that of Ward Melville
, a local businessman who at one point owned much of what is still sometimes called the "Three Villages" (consisting of Stony Brook, the hamlet of Setauket
, and the incorporated
village of Old Field
). The Melville-created Three Village Central School District
today serves all three communities. See the Ward Melville Heritage Organization for some history.
Beginning in 1939 with the creation of his Stony Brook Community Fund, Melville began the transformation of the hamlet into his idea of an idyllic New England
village, with white clapboard and quaint stores. This effect has been largely achieved in the population center, which consists of a green and a crescent of stores. In further pursuit of this goal, Melville donated the land and funds for the creation of the State University of New York at Stony Brook to the State of New York, as well as for the local school district.
The area has virtually no industrial or commercial base due to current zoning, and the rapid growth of residential development in the past decade has begun to place serious strain on schools trying to accommodate the increasing class size. However, the Three Village schools are generally ranked much above average.
The hamlet's tourist attractions include the Stony Brook Grist Mill
and The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages
, a large complex of buildings originally known as the Stony Brook Carriage House and Suffolk Museum. Other Stony Brook attractions are the 19th-century William Sydney Mount House
, the elegant St. James Chapel
, and the West Meadow Beach Historic District
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the CDP has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16.1 km²), of which, 5.7 square miles (14.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1 km²) of it (6.97%) is water.
As of the census
of 2000, there were 13,727 people, 4,758 households, and 3,787 families residing in the CDP. The population density
was 2,390.5 per square mile (923.3/km²). There were 4,970 housing units at an average density of 865.5/sq mi (334.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.82% White, 1.23% African American, 0.04% Native American, 5.70% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races
, and 0.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.43% of the population.
There were 4,758 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.4% were non-families. 16.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.23.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $90,009, and the median income for a family was $95,567. Males had a median income of $68,400 versus $41,770 for females. The per capita income
for the CDP was $35,247. About 1.9% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.
Stony Brook was also the home of Bobby Pendragon from the Pendragon series
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
community and census-designated place
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
) located in the Town of Brookhaven
Brookhaven, New York
The Town of Brookhaven is one of the ten towns into which Suffolk County, New York, United States, has been divided. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located in central Suffolk County and is the only town in the county that stretches from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long...
in Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, which is on the North Shore
North Shore (Long Island)
The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. The region has long been the most affluent on Long Island, as well as the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some...
of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. The population was 13,727 at the 2000 census.
General information
North Shore (Long Island)
The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. The region has long been the most affluent on Long Island, as well as the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some...
, the area is home to, among other things, the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
, The Stony Brook School, and "Stony Brook Village." The history of the unincorporated "village" has been closely linked to that of Ward Melville
Ward Melville
John Ward Melville was an American philanthropist, and businessman, born to Frank Melville, Jr. Ward Melville attended college at Columbia University, where he was active in the Columbia Daily Spectator and the Philolexian Society. Following graduation in 1909, Melville joined his father's shoe...
, a local businessman who at one point owned much of what is still sometimes called the "Three Villages" (consisting of Stony Brook, the hamlet of Setauket
Setauket-East Setauket, New York
Setauket-East Setauket is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island along the "Gold Coast." As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 15,931. It is one of the most affluent communities in the state and is among the wealthiest towns...
, and the incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
village of Old Field
Old Field, New York
Old Field is a village of 918 residents in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The Incorporated Village of Old Field is in the town of Brookhaven, on the North Shore of Long Island. It is one of the most affluent communities in the state and is among the wealthiest towns in the United States...
). The Melville-created Three Village Central School District
Three Village Central School District
Three Village Central School District is a school district located in Long Island, New York. It serves Setauket, East Setauket, Stony Brook, Poquott, Old Field, and small portions of Port Jefferson Station, Saint James and South Setauket/Centereach...
today serves all three communities. See the Ward Melville Heritage Organization for some history.
Beginning in 1939 with the creation of his Stony Brook Community Fund, Melville began the transformation of the hamlet into his idea of an idyllic New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
village, with white clapboard and quaint stores. This effect has been largely achieved in the population center, which consists of a green and a crescent of stores. In further pursuit of this goal, Melville donated the land and funds for the creation of the State University of New York at Stony Brook to the State of New York, as well as for the local school district.
The area has virtually no industrial or commercial base due to current zoning, and the rapid growth of residential development in the past decade has begun to place serious strain on schools trying to accommodate the increasing class size. However, the Three Village schools are generally ranked much above average.
The hamlet's tourist attractions include the Stony Brook Grist Mill
Stony Brook Grist Mill
The Stony Brook Grist Mill is a Registered Historic Place property in Stony Brook, Suffolk County, New York. Its construction in 1699 created the Mill Pond astride the Brookhaven-Smithtown boundary. The mill structure itself dates back to at least circa 1751....
and The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages
Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages
The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages is an open air museum located in Stony Brook, New York. Founded in 1939 as the Museums at Stony Brook, it changed its name in 2000...
, a large complex of buildings originally known as the Stony Brook Carriage House and Suffolk Museum. Other Stony Brook attractions are the 19th-century William Sydney Mount House
William Sidney Mount House
The William Sidney Mount House is a wood sided and wood shingled house built in 1725 located in Stony Brook on Long Island, New York. The American genre painter William Sidney Mount, 1807–1868, lived there and had his studio in the 3rd floor attic, which benefited from unusual skylights through...
, the elegant St. James Chapel
St. James Chapel (Stony Brook, New York)
St. James Chapel is a historic chapel on the east side of Main Street, 250 feet north of Stony Brook Lane in Stony Brook, Suffolk County, New York. The church was built in 1889 and is a gable roofed, frame building of rectangular plan clad in wood shingles. It features an open, octagonal bell...
, and the West Meadow Beach Historic District
West Meadow Beach Historic District
West Meadow Beach Historic District is a peninsula of park-land approximately 1.5 miles long and a national historic district located in northwestern Stony Brook in Suffolk County, New York...
.
Geography
Stony Brook is located at 40°54′23"N 73°7′42"W (40.906399, -73.128443).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the CDP has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16.1 km²), of which, 5.7 square miles (14.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1 km²) of it (6.97%) is water.
Demographics
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 13,727 people, 4,758 households, and 3,787 families residing in the CDP. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 2,390.5 per square mile (923.3/km²). There were 4,970 housing units at an average density of 865.5/sq mi (334.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.82% White, 1.23% African American, 0.04% Native American, 5.70% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.25% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.43% of the population.
There were 4,758 households out of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.3% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.4% were non-families. 16.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.23.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $90,009, and the median income for a family was $95,567. Males had a median income of $68,400 versus $41,770 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the CDP was $35,247. About 1.9% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.
Local Media
- Stony Brook Statesman, the oldest newspaper at Stony Brook University
- SBU TVSBU TVSBU TV, standing for Stony Brook University Television, is a Student television station at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.-History:...
-- Stony Brook University Television - Stony Brook IndependentStony Brook IndependentThe Stony Brook Independent, also colloquially referred to as the "Indie," is a collegiate news publication serving Stony Brook University and the surrounding community.- History :...
, a new publication at Stony Brook University - Stony Brook Press, a newspaper at SUNY-Stony Brook
- Three Village Patch -- a daily online news source for Stony Brook and East Setauket, New York
- The Village Times HeraldThe Times Beacon RecordThe Times Beacon Record is a community newspaper publisher, located in Setauket, NY, consisting of seven different weekly newspapers serving Suffolk County localities on the North Shore of Long Island spanning from the town of Huntington in to Wading River. The current publisher is Leah S...
, a newspaper located in Setauket, New York - WUSB (FM)WUSB (FM)WUSB is the State University of New York at Stony Brook's radio station. A non-commercial station located in Stony Brook, New York broadcasting on 90.1 MHz on the FM dial, the station is staffed by more than 150 volunteers who devote their time and energy for the love of music and free-form...
-- Stony Brook University Radio at 90.1 FM
Famous residents and natives
- Harold BeverageHarold BeverageDr. Harold Henry "Bev" Beverage is perhaps most widely known today for his invention and development of the wave antenna, which came to be known as the Beverage antenna and which for the last few decades has seen a resurgence in use within the amateur radio and broadcast DXing hobbyist communities...
(inventor) - George Booth (New Yorker cartoonist)
- Sarah DrewSarah DrewSarah Drew is an American actress. She is known for her role as Hannah Rogers in Everwood and for her role as Dr. April Kepner on Grey's Anatomy .-Personal life:...
(actress) - Brooke EllisonBrooke EllisonBrooke Ellison was the very first quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard University. In 2000, she was selected by her fellow students to speak at the University's commencement ceremonies....
(First quadriplegic graduate from Harvard University) - Marci GellerMarci GellerMarci Anne Geller is an American singer-songwriter and a native of Stony Brook, Long Island, New York. She is an internationally acclaimed touring artist with numerous soundtrack placements on VH1, MTV, A&E, ABC Family, Discovery, FoodTV, etc. She is a member of SESAC and was also named one of the...
(independent singer-songwriter) - John Hampson (lead singer, guitarist for band, Nine Days)
- Kevin James (comedian, actor)
- Karsh KaleKarsh KaleKarsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
(producer, composer, musician) - Michael Kimmel (sociologist, scholar)
- Stan LeeStan LeeStan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
(creator of Marvel Comics) - John PetrucciJohn PetrucciJohn Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory...
(guitarist for band, Dream Theater) - R.A. The Rugged ManR.A. The Rugged ManR. A. Thorburn, better known as R.A. the Rugged Man, is an emcee from Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.-Career:At 18, R.A. signed with Jive Records and then in the mid-1990s signed with Priority Records/EMI. His contract was later absorbed by Capitol Records but he began recording...
(hip-hop artist) - Cliff RobertsonCliff RobertsonClifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
(actor) - Dee SniderDee SniderDaniel "Dee" Snider is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister...
(singer for band, Twisted Sister) - Gary ValentineGary ValentineGary Valentine is an American actor and comedian. He is the older brother of actor Kevin James.-Career:Gary was featured in the movie Comedian, and appeared as Doug Heffernan's cousin Danny on the television show The King of Queens. He's featured in the film Velocity Rules...
(comedian, actor) - Alyson Chadwick (comedian, writer)
- Three of My Priorities (Band)
Stony Brook was also the home of Bobby Pendragon from the Pendragon series
See also
- New York State Route 25ANew York State Route 25ANew York State Route 25A is a state highway on Long Island in New York in the United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of the North Shore of Long Island, running from the Queens Midtown Tunnel in the New York City borough of Queens at its western terminus to...
-- a.k.a. North Country Road - Stony Brook University HospitalStony Brook University HospitalStony Brook University Medical Center, located in Stony Brook, New York, is the largest academic medical center on Long Island It comprises Stony Brook University School of Medicine and Stony Brook University Hospital, which is the only tertiary care hospital and Level 1 trauma center in Suffolk...
- West Meadow Beach