Nowhere will you find the ultimate, breathtaking beauty of the beach dunes, the white sand and the roar of the ocean like you will find in Southampton Village, New York.
Southampton New york is a throwback to days gone-by.....and not just a playground for the Rich and Famous!!!
The "good old days" seem like more than a century away when in reality it is a mere 30 odd years that you can look back on and see the same easy life style that drew great numbers of people here in the first place.
Before the 1980s, the changes were few and far between; life remained as uncomplicated as it was in the late 1700s. This was when lives of leisure began here. The upscale, wealthy "barons" of the early American families from New York City began to come by train to the seaside for time to gather with their families and "take the sea air".
They built their vacation homes and get-aways near the ocean, almost always in what is now the "Estate Section"which included South Main Street and heading West, includes the "Necks" that were the roads built to connect Montauck Highway to the roadway which ran along the sea-side. These were called First Neck, Halsey Neck, Captains Neck and the shorter Coopers Neck which connects Great Plains Road with the sea-side road. "Dune Road", "Meadow Lane" and "Gin Lane" were the names that settled in and were used over the years to identify the road that followed the Atlantic Ocean from Westhampton Beach to Southampton Village.
1640--1760
The earliest neighborhoods in Southampton were not even recognizable as such; they were built into the shallow hillsides of the rolling landscape near the ocean--the closer, the better to fish and hunt for food. In the early 1600's Old Town Road, named that for obvious reasons, was initially a path that meandered from the Conscience Point area now known as North sea. This is where the earliest settlers came ashore and to be near the ocean they walked the first path and they built their dug outs on the banks of a nearby pond . Here, four other pathways merged and became known as Olde Town Road: Wickapogue Road, Toylsome Lane, Old Town Crossing and Wyandanch lane now merge where these 5 pathways once did.
It was here, at this point called Olde Town where these 5 pathways meet and where the early settlers found their way of life to be ideal.They lived spartan lives in dug-outs with sod rooves. Here they prepared for the winter storms and hurricanes, fished for their food and began farming the fertile flatlands. They thrived and began a way of life that eventually evolved into what we now see as the village of Southampton.
At the time when stage coaches and buggies were the main form of travel, the few who made the journey were never dissappointed...the sea air was fine and theraputic compared to the grime and the filth of the city and even though their well appointed brownstones and limestone mansions in the city were far from the slums, there were sounds and smells in the air that most magnates tried to escape at every turn; and the heat! The heat in the city was beyond any tolerance....once the dirt and sandy streets were tarred and paved. The heat became the nightmare to escape from in those early summers in the city.
A COOPERS BEACH NEIGHBOR
ONE OF THE MANY PONDS THAT DOT THE COAST LINE
The sea, the Great Atlantic and the Great Peconic Bay pulled seaman into the inlets, bays and coves in the beginning....these hearty souls were the first settlers to venture onto the long white beaches and the grassy meadows of the furthest end of Long island. Greeted by the Shinnecock Indian tribes, and welcomed into the New World with a fair amount of trepidation, the early settlers began to build Southampton: the fishing and the whaling villages of Sag Harbor and Hampton Bays, the mill town of Water Mill, the farm village of Bridgehampton and all other hamlets that now exist East of Southampton.
LITTLE PLAINS BEACH AT SUNRISE
Family life was not easy in those days,but it was filled with the fresh, uncomplicated daily events that made living in the early days of the Hamptons something to treasure. They weren't called the Hamptons in the early days; this came long after the toil and labor of fishing and farm life had faded. In the early 1700's, long traditions of potato farming began as many Irish and Polish settlers came to the "New World". The sea air and the fertile flats of the bays and ocean were the best place to re-build their "Old World" lifestyle. Fishing was a way of life and a profession that was the first to be established along the shores of Eastern Long Island. It took many a decade of building homes and farms that would eventually become the great Long Island potato farm traditions that continue to this day on a much smaller scale.
By the end of the 1800's and early 1900's wealthy New Yorkers had discovered the easy country lifestyle that fit their increasing need for respite from the noise, smells and turmoil of city living. Just a few hours away by buggy and eventually by train, the small sea side hamlets quietly existed for 2 centuries without much ado except for the few new homes that were being built in their midst; large, shingled cottages were beginning to pop up near the ocean beaches and were lived in infrequently by the wealthy. New ways to earn a living soon included property care; landscaping, housekeeping and all the jobs that were needed to maintain the lifestyle of the rich and famous of early America.
ONE OF THE MANY TREASURED SOUTHAMPTON ESTATES
Leisure lifesyles also directed the way the land began to be used; Shinnecock Golf Club was an early use of huge acerage, as was the private tennis club called the Meadow Club right near the ocean. Many more privately owned "camps" began to be built in Southampton North, to be used as a place of rest and relaxation for the white-collar workers who lived in New York City and it's buroughs.
The Meadow Club for tennis and the Bathing Corporation on the ocean were built in the 1800s and are still here, located in the Estate Section along Meadow Lane. These private clubs are just 2 of several such gathering places for the rich and famous.
THE PRESENT
Southampton Village is the place where young families, seasonal guests, and established residents can freely move about during the beautiful weather. Shopping, dining, museum visits, playground activities and strolling through the village streets are the favorite pass-time when the beach is not pulling the greater number of people to it's white sands.
JOBS LANE IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE
PLAYGROUND AT LAKE AGAWAM IN SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE
Let Southampton reveal to you the forgotton history of the earliest settlements in America;the towns that surround Southampton Village have their own stories to tell too. In my future posts about this wondrous place I will cover the North Sea, Noyac and Sag Harbor areas---these are even less known for their history than Southampton and may reveal more than you could ever imagine! Plan a trip to this area soon; it is not JUST a playground for the rich and famous!!!
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