Perry, New York
town in Wyoming County, New York
Perry is a town in Wyoming County, New York, United States. The population was 5,813 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.
The town is on the eastern border of the county. Perry is also the name of a village within the town. The town is styled "home of the Silver Lake Sea Serpent" after a sea serpent sighting, possibly a hoax, in 1855. The serpent is celebrated by images throughout the town and previously by a summer festival. An artificial serpent was placed by Silver Lake in 2016.
The Village of Perry joined Tree City USA in 2017.
U.S. Route 20A passes across the town.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Perry, New York” is town in Wyoming County, New York. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Perry, York and town, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town in Wyoming County, New York” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q525730. VIAF identifies the subject as 127892496. The Library of Congress control number is n84112494. Authority coordinates are 42.716, -78.005. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1855, 2016 and 2017.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Perry, New York”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Perry, New York primary sources, Perry, New York archive and Perry research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Perry, New York”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Perry, New York” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.