Wading River, New York
| Wading River, New York | |
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| Hamlet and census-designated place | |
The c.1820 Tuthill-Lapham House
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 Wading River
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| Coordinates: 40°57′9″N 72°49′48″W / 40.95250°N 72.83000°WCoordinates: 40°57′9″N 72°49′48″W / 40.95250°N 72.83000°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Suffolk |
| Area | |
| • Total | 9.8 sq mi (25.5 km2) |
| • Land | 9.8 sq mi (25.4 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 92 ft (28 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 7,719 |
| • Density | 790/sq mi (300/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 11792 |
| Area code(s) | 631 |
| FIPS code | 36-77772 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0968624 |
| Website | www.townofriverheadny.gov |
Wading River is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 7,719. It is adjacent to Shoreham and shares a school district.
Most of Wading River lies within the Town of Riverhead, but a small portion is in the Town of Brookhaven. The name of the hamlet comes from the original Algonquian name for the area, Pauquaconsuk, meaning "the place where we wade for thick, round-shelled clams". "Wading in the River" or Wading River was adopted by the first English colonists.
The earliest English records show a settlement known as Wading River was founded by eight colonial families. "The spot for the village was chosen with care. There was a stream adequate for water power and abounding in seafood...good water for drinking...soil rich enough to grow essential crops, woodland for fuel, building material and food, topography to offer protection from the elements, meadowland for its grass."
Between 1895 and 1938, the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road extended to Wading River. It was once planned to continue eastward to rejoin the Main Line at Riverhead or Calverton. From 1905 to 1928, Wading River was also the site of an LIRR demonstration farm. Another was east of Medford Station on the Main Line. The Wading River station closed in 1938. During World War II the Benson House was used by the FBI as the site of a secret counterintelligence operation to feed the Nazis deceptive information.
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