Sixty-Something: The New Gilded Age of the Hamptons

There have almost always been wealthy folks on the east end. From the beginnings the lands were fertile and the western settlements were successful. The history of the Hamptons is comprised of hard work achievement and accomplishments. In the beginning, farm lands stretched to the ocean, or close to it. It is tough not to imagine even farmers working 14-hour days not somehow heading to the beach for a swim on a hot summer’s day.


Today the east end ocean front is an architectural smorgasbord of an expression of wealth, fantasy, beauty and achieved dreams. The “The New Gilded Age of the Hamptons,” is at hand. Along the Atlantic Ocean, homes of almost every imaginative type stretch out for tens of miles.

In 1969, when I came out to Southampton with some high school friends the homes on the ocean were traditional mansions with shutters, shingles  and windows. There were no grand balconies, ceiling to floor window rooms, nor glass sliding doors. The most impressive homes perhaps were modeled after the Newport mansions of the first “American Gilded Age.”

Also, when I came out with my high school friends, there was not one billionaire living or summering in the Hamptons. In 1969, having over $100M was huge. There were no people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Paul Allen or Steve Jobs types building or buying homes.

The Du Pont’s were in Southampton as were the Fords. It was a big deal to see Henry Ford’s personal railroad car parked at the Southampton train station for grandson Henry Ford II’s wedding in 1940. “Hank the Deuce” married a local Southampton girl, (Anne M. Donnell) back in the 1950’s. Even Henry Ford Sr. wasn’t a billionaire back then. When Henry Ford passed in 1947 he was worth $200M.


Today perhaps every Hampton’s hamlet has at least a billionaire’s home. Some famous east end addresses like Further Lane, Meadow Lane, Lily Pond Lane, and Ox Pasture Road may have a few. In fact, a few of those addresses have over $100M properties /a.k.a. homes up and down those roads.

Being sixty-something, I have watched this phenomenon happen. When I was a single digit youngster $1M was a big deal. This last year or so perhaps a record number of folks made more than that, quietly.

There are now more east end home owners making over $10M per year than ever before. According to “SpendMeNot, the ultimate source of personal finance,” in 2021 there were 788 billionaires in the USA. The same report said there are over 1,456,000 households’ worth of $10M. California has the most billionaires yet NYC is the city that has the largest number of “ultra-rich,” millionaires in the USA . NYC has a reported 24,660 as opposed to Los Angeles having a mere 16,295!

Astonishing the average age of billionaires is 64.5 years old. According to the same “SpendMeNot” report updated in 2021, “The youngest American billionaire is Austin Russel. Aged 26, he’s worth $2.4 billion, and he’s the founder of Luminar Technologies, a company that makes sensors and other tech for autonomous vehicles.”

To say more wealth is moving into the east end on a weekly basis is not going out on a limb. Weekly numbers reported by all real estate venues note strong sales of homes and properties all with rising prices. Values are at all-time highs and climbing. It seems the Covid-19 crisis has enlightened the “ultra-rich,” as well as everyone, how important and valuable a home on the east end is.

The helicopter and private jet plane problems at East Hampton Airport only cements the reality of who is moving in to the area. The homes of the Hamptons today are statement properties as were the homes of Newport during the original Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

I suppose the new saying must be, “One can never be too thin, or too rich, or have a too nice of a property in the Hamptons.”