Amagansett, founded in 1680, is a hamlet and a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the hamlet population was 1,067.
The area is sometimes referred to as Skimhampton. However this specifically refers to the area south of the Montauk Highway along Skimhampton Road. The artist Childe Hassam, who lived on Egypt Lane in East Hampton village, painted the area during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Portions of Skimhampton and the area on the northwest side of Amagansett show up in the United States Census census designated place of East Hampton North, New York.
Amagansett is in the Town of East Hampton.
History
Marker celebrating the Amagansett's "place of good water" near Indian Wells beach
Amagansett derives its name from the Montaukett name for "place of good water" from a water source near what today is Indian Wells beach.
Unlike the rest of the Hamptons, Amagansett was initially settled by the Baker, Conklin, and Barnes families, descendants of English settlers, and the Dutch brothers Abraham and Jacob Schellinger, the sons of a New Amsterdam merchant who moved to East Hampton between 1680 and 1690 after the English took over New Amsterdam. [1]
During Operation Pastorius, a failed Nazi attack on the United States staged in June 1942, during World War II, four German spies were dropped off from a submarine on Atlantic Avenue beach in Amagansett, where they made their way to the village's Long Island Rail Road station and boarded a train for New York. But a local United States Coast Guard watchman noticed the suspicious strangers on the beach and notified the police and the FBI.
The Coast Guard barracks are now part of the East Hampton Town Marine Museum which includes exhibits from the town maritime history including whaling relics and a canon from the American Revolution ship HMS Culloden which ran aground at Montauk, New York.
In the Spring of 2007 the original Coast Guard station, which had been moved to a private residence in 1966 to protect it from demolition, was moved back to near its original location at Atlantic Avenue beach.
In 1998 President Bill Clinton who was vacationing in East Hampton gave a Saturday radio address from the Amagansett Fire House. On the same visit, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger hosted a dinner for the President at their home in the Stony Hill section of the hamlet.
Amagansett includes a section of Further Lane, which is a block from the ocean, and has one of the biggest collections of mansions in East Hampton. In 2007, one of the estates sold for a $107 million which was the highest price for a private residential property. As part of the settlement, several 18th and 19th century buildings which had been moved to the estate to prevent demolition were moved elsewhere in the town -- including five that were moved to form a campus for the East Hampton town government.
Two history books are 'Images of America: Amagansett' by Carleton Kelsey (died in 2005, aged 92 years) and Lucinda Mayo (descendant of one of Amagansett's 17th century founders); and Kelsey's 'Amagansett, A Pictorial History'. Carleton Kelsey was a schoolteacher before becoming director of the Amagansett Free Library -- a post in which he served until the age of 86. Town Historian and charter board member of the Amagansett Historical Association, he also performed in regional community theater for decades, and gave regular lively talks on regional history to academic and community groups. He could often be found sharing Amagansett "lore & legend" over breakfast at Estia with such well-known residents as Alec Baldwin, another Long-Island native (Massapequa). Carleton's extraordinary collection of several thousand Long Island photographs, dating back to 1860 and the 'American Civil War', were bequeathed by him to the Amagansett Historical Association.
Notable residents
A popular resort location, many famous people have resided in or owned second homes in Amagansett through the years, including Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Billy Joel, Jerry Seinfeld, Paul McCartney, Christie Brinkley, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Jann Wenner, and Lorne Michaels. Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller spent a summer there in the late 1950s. Perhaps the first wave of "summer people" was the "Devon Colony", which was founded in the late 19th century by executives of the Procter & Gamble company. Other notable residents include:
Geography
Amagansett is located at 40°58′46″N, 72°7′31″W (40.979532, -72.125174)[2].
According to the United States Census Bureau, the hamlet has a total area of 8.1 square miles (20.8 km²), of which, 6.3 square miles (16.3 km²) of it is land and 1.8 square miles (4.6 km²) of it (21.86%) is water.
At the end of the last ice age, Amagansett stood at the eastern tip of Long Island. At that time, Montauk was an island on its own in the Atlantic. In the intervening several thousand years, ocean currents, or littoral drift, filled in space with sand. This area is now known as Napeague.
Distinct places within Amagansett include Amagansett village, Beach Hampton, and the Devon Colony on Gardiner's Bay. Other places of geographic significance include the "Walking Dunes" in Napeague and the Atlantic Double Dunes, which is protected by the Nature Conservancy and local and federal governments.
Demographics
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 1,067 people, 493 households, and 281 families residing in the hamlet. The population density was 169.6 per square mile (65.5/km²). There were 1,664 housing units at an average density of 264.5/sq mi (102.1/km²). The racial makeup of the hamlet was 96.44% White, 1.69% African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.28% from other races, and 0.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.03% of the population.
There were 493 households out of which 21.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.1% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.0% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.78.
In the hamlet the population was spread out with 19.1% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 33.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females there were 102.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.
The median income for a household in the hamlet was $56,406, and the median income for a family was $69,306. Males had a median income of $48,750 versus $36,500 for females. The per capita income for the hamlet was $45,545. About 2.4% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
References
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- ^ (1963) Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who.
External links
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