Hamlet, Oregon

This article is about the community in Oregon. For the regional government model in Oregon, see Hamlet (Oregon).

Hamlet is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States.[1] It is located approximately six miles southeast of Necanicum, in the Northern Oregon Coast Range near the confluence of the North Fork Nehalem River and the Little North Fork Nehalem River.[2] It is surrounded by units of the Clatsop State Forest.[2]

The town was founded by Finns and according to author Ralph Friedman, the place never had a store, church, post office, or village center.[3] Oregon Geographic Names however, says that Hamlet post office was established circa 1905, and was named because it was a small community, or hamlet.[4] The Hamlet post office was located at 5 or more locations over the years, as each new postmaster would build a new shed to serve as one on their homestead. The post office closed in 1953, with mail going to Seaside.[4] Hamlet did have a school, which currently serves as a community center. The original schoolhouse burned down in 1910, and a new one was constructed about 1/2 mile away in 1911[3][5] There is also a cemetery.[3][5] A later Friedman book gives the history of the post office and the Finnish founders of the town.[6]

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Hamlet, Oregon
  2. ^ a b Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-89933-347-2.
  3. ^ a b c Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 26, 145. ISBN 0-87004-332-3.
  4. ^ a b McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 439–440. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  5. ^ a b Friedman, Ralph (1993) [1972]. Oregon for the Curious (3rd ed.). Portland, Oregon: Pars Publishing Company. p. 189. ISBN 0-87004-222-X.
  6. ^ Friedman, Ralph (1978). "The Small Drama of Hamlet". Tracking Down Oregon. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 35–42. ISBN 0-87004-257-2.