Stony Brook’s post office opened in 1826, and 7 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Stony Brook was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and old-book passages.
Stony Brook was first settled in the late 17th century. It was originally known by the native name Wopowog and then as Stony Brook, with both names likely referring to the interconnected bodies of water at the hamlet's western edge. It began as a satellite community of adjacent Setauket, New York, the Town of Brookhaven's first settlement, and its land was included in the initial 1655 purchase from the native Setalcott tribe.
Passages that mention Stony Brook, cut from the printed page as they were published.
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 45Read the page →
Read the text
when it was removed to a new site in the southern part of the village. This church was set off from the Smithtown circuit in June 1848. The charge then consisted of Port Jefferson, Setauket, Stony Brook and Mount Sinai. Stony Brook was withdrawn from the connection in 1859, and Setauket in 1873.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 30Read the page →
Read the text
Other individuals have also planted oysters in the waters of Stony Brook Harbor, under the authority of the town commissioners. The supervisors passed an act in 1870 forbidding any one except inhabitants of Smithtown and of the village of Stony Brook to catch any eels or shell-fish in any of the waters of Smithtown. It is claimed that this law covers public navigable waters, and infringes on the public right to fish in such waters. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Stony Brook, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1873
1902
1906
