One has to love life in the Hamptons. It is a wonderful place to journey through time. When there is only so much time to enjoy, why not enjoy it in a special place? The east end of Long Island is a special place. When we are young, we feel time is endless. Later in life that feeling begins to fade. I am just glad I landed on the south shore of the east end of Long Island. It was here that I found the right path. The east end is a most brilliant place for my sunsetting days.
Everyone who has moved out to the east end has their own reasons and story. I am always fascinated about the way the original settlers overcame so many hardships to get a toehold in the place we call the Hamptons. In 1639 Lion Gardiner settled in on Gardiners Island. In 1640 the first group of the Lynn, Massachusetts folks landed at what is now called Conscience Point and founded Southampton. From there others travelled further east to settle East Hampton in 1648.
For them there were no real estate agents with listings. There were no convenience and hardware stores. One can only guess how tough it was their first winters in their crudest of shelters. If you have ever maintained a campfire, or a home fireplace, you understand how much wood is needed daily, just to stay warm in the winter. Then in winter, there is the absence of sunlight, literally. With those short days and extremely cold, wet weather, staying warm and battling exposure had to be an extreme nightly and daily battle.
Luckily, I did not have those problems when I arrived in East Hampton to stay. First, it was the beginning of summer. Then, the days and waters were warm, with the sunlight being the longest of the yearly cycle. It was the views, and the wide-open spaces that made me not regret leaving my Manhattan apartment, job, and hectic life behind. I, too, like the pioneers landed out here with no home, no job, in fact without even a plan.
Now twenty years later, years that have raced by as if it were a hectic weekend, I feel blessed. On a Sag Harbor full moon spring evening, I found the woman who is now my wife. It was a huge buzz, one I still feel when I look at her. She is a pure Long Island girl.
Learning the ways of the “Hamptons” is a process. I made my mistakes, but luckily not that many. While I will forever be a guest, there is no doubt my soul will dwell over Gardiner’s Bay long after I die. I love the east end. It is no surprise it is where I truly discovered what I loved about life and found it. In a lifetime, I believe there are spiritual times, and the east end is a spiritual place.
Over these last twenty years there have been obvious changes on the east end. Billions of dollars’ worth of changes. Some folks aren’t thrilled with the changes, while others are creating the changes. As a sixty-something and beyond individual I have navigated the waves of change without getting crushed by them. Some have not. Others have soared and risen through those waves of change. One thing that hasn’t changed for me is my passion to get out and sail the waters of Gardiner’s Bay.
It’s April now, spring is now entering full flight. Boats are being prepared to be launched in May, including mine! Soon I will be ready again to set sail into the days that are left of my future. I suppose as long as you are here today, you still have a future to plan. My plan is to have many wonderful days with my wife sailing the bays and swimming at the beaches.
Every year some publications rank the best beaches in the world. For me the best summer beaches in the world start on the Atlantic Ocean shores of Fire Island and keep on going eastward along the south shore of Long Island right to Montauk Point. The whales, the dolphins, and sometimes even the sharks thrive in the sanctity of these waters. Not one day goes by when I don’t nod positively at my choice to leave the rat-race and live close to this amazing ocean shoreline.
