Hamlet is an unincorporated

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 in Clatsop County

Clatsop County, Oregon

Clatsop County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coast of the Pacific Ocean prior to European settlement. As of 2010, the population was 37,039. The county seat is Astoria.-Economy:The principal...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States. It is located about six miles southeast of Necanicum

Necanicum, Oregon

Necanicum is a historic unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. It is located about 13 miles southeast of Seaside on U.S. Route 26 in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, next to the Necanicum River. Necanicum Junction is about a mile east of the site of the former post...

, in the Northern Oregon Coast Range

Northern Oregon Coast Range

The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, contains peaks as high...

 near the confluence of the North Fork Nehalem River and the Little North Fork Nehalem River. It is surrounded by units of the Clatsop State Forest

Clatsop State Forest

Clatsop State Forest is a state forest in Clatsop and Columbia counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is managed by the Astoria District of the Oregon Department of Forestry.- External links :*...

.

The town was founded by Finns and according to author Ralph Friedman

Ralph Friedman

Ralph Friedman was an American author best known for his books about Oregon.Ralph Friedman was born and raised in Chicago. He hitchhiked to Oregon in 1933 at the age of 16. He wrote 10 books, and contributed to many other books, magazines, and newspapers...

, the place never had a store, church, post office, or village center. Oregon Geographic Names

Oregon Geographic Names

Oregon Geographic Names is an authoritative compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon. , the book is in its seventh edition and is compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthur, who took over from his father, Lewis A. McArthur, as of the fourth edition...

however, says that Hamlet post office was established about 1905, and was named because it was a small community, or hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

. The post office closed in 1953, with mail going to Seaside

Seaside, Oregon

Seaside is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The name Seaside is derived from Seaside House, a historic summer resort built in the 1870s by railroad magnate Ben Holladay. The city's population was 6,457 at the 2010 census.-History:...

. Hamlet did have a school, which as of 1990, had become a community center. There is also a cemetery. A later Friedman book gives the history of the post office and the Finnish founders of the town.