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East Hampton By Nancy and Richard Woodworth East Hampton, let it be said up front, is too-too. Too posh, too trendy, too social, too expensive, too precious, too much. At the same time, let it be said that it is also beautiful. Classy. And, at other than peak visiting periods, rather serene. Almost perfect. Not too-too perfect. For New Yorkers, there is no better-known summer place than the Hamptons, some 110 miles east near the tip of Long Island’s South Fork. The Hamptons collectively embrace, from west to east: Westhampton and Hampton Bays, which for most are quite skippable. Southampton, perhaps the best known of the Hamptons, the Palm Beach of the North. Bridgehampton, which is consciously understated. And East Hampton, more subdued than flashy Southampton. It’s not hard to understand why this was called "America’s Most Beautiful Village" in the early 1960s by a national magazine. Town officials differ over whether it was the Saturday Evening Post or National Geographic; their indecision suggests that to East Hampton it doesn’t matter. The wide main street of the historic village passes a long green with a pond and a graveyard, a windmill, English-style edifices and substantial old homes before it reaches shady, suave downtown East Hampton. Take Ocean Avenue down to the beach, arguably the nation’s cleanest and one of its most beautiful. Meander along the side streets of the estate area, where thick privet hedges screen the manicured estates of the rich and famous. Some of the more illustrious – and less flamboyant – make up the Blue Book of the Hamptons, which is discreetly stacked for sale on the counter at the local bookstore. Pause for a look at Home Sweet Home, the Mulford House, Clinton Academy, Miss Amelia’s Cottage, Guild Hall, the Tudoresque library and the Old Hook Mill, one among the nation’s largest collections of windmills. This is the East Hampton that the transient visitor sees. The East Hampton that the New Yorkers take over in the summer is the one where the scene is seeing and being seen: in chi-chi restaurants charging Manhattan prices, at inns demanding minimum stays of three to five nights, in boutiques catering to the celebrity and carriage trade, in the slick newspapers and magazines touting the Hamptons’ social scene, in all the fitness centers and beauty salons and cosmetic makeover clinics that show where priorities lie. Some New Yorkers would give their bottom dollar for a share in a house in the Hamptons each summer – or even for an invitation for a weekend. Others would be advised to visit at off-peak times to enjoy East Hampton’s many charms, without its hassles. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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