Bohemia boʊhiːmiːə is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 9,852 at the 2020 census. It is situated along the South Shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, approximately 50 miles from New York City.
A portion of Long Island MacArthur Airport is located within the hamlet.
Many of Bohemia's current residents trace their ethnic heritage back to southern Italy, Ireland, and the historical Czech lands (also called Bohemia). A large percentage of Bohemia's growing population has migrated to the town from western Long Island, Brooklyn, and Queens.
Connetquot River State Park is also located in Bohemia. The park provides an ideal location for horse back riding and because of this, the town harbors a unique equestrian culture. Many of the homes located along the park have stables and it is common to see locals walking their horses through the town's tree lined streets.
The earliest known inhabitants of what is today Bohemia were the Secatogue tribe of the Algonquian peoples.
The area was founded as Bohemia in 1855 by Slavic immigrants who were the first Europeans to settle there in large numbers. These migrants came from a mountainous village near Kadaň in the Central European Kingdom of Bohemia, which is the town's namesake (Kadaň is located in present-day Czech Republic). Their pilgrimage coincided with a wave of Bohemian nationals emigrating to the United States, many of whom embodied the free spirited and enlightened lifestyles synonymous with bohemianism. They had taken part in the widespread revolutions against autocratic rule that had shaken Europe in 1848 and came seeking a new life in the United States. Work was hard to come by in New York and many of the men tried to support themselves as street musicians. An important contribution they made to the development of Long Island was adding their rich Central European folklore to the local culture, a nice complement to the also rich oral tradition of the native people.
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