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]
45°50′46″N 123°42′02″W / 45.84611°N 123.70056°W