Wading River is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island.

The name of the hamlet comes from the original Algonquian name for the area, Pauquaconsuk, meaning "the place where we wade for thick, round-shelled clams".

The earliest English records show a settlement known as Wading River was founded by eight colonial families.

There was a stream adequate for water power and abounding in seafood...good water for drinking...soil rich enough to grow essential crops, woodland for fuel, building material and food, topography to offer protection from the elements, meadowland for its grass.

"[3] Between 1895 and 1938, the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road extended to Wading River.

During World War II the Benson House was used by the FBI as the site of a secret counterintelligence operation to feed the Nazis deceptive information.

But during the summer months, hundreds of visitors filled the town to use Wildwood State Park, the cottages on the cliffs and dunes and, of course, the beaches.