Dan's Papers - June 19, 2009

Welcome to the East Hampton Colonial Village. I hope you enjoy your day. The East Hampton Colonial Village is a collection of 17th century homes assembled on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, New York, thanks to an extraordinarily gracious donation made by Adelaide de Menil and her husband, Ted Carpenter, many years ago.

The homes include the Purple House (circa 1770), formerly on Main Street in East Hampton; the Baker House (circa 1750) from Pantigo Road, East Hampton; the Bridgehampton Hay Barn (circa 1795); the Parsons Barn (circa 1780) from North Main Street; the Peach Farm (circa 1730) from Northwest; and the Baker Barn from Pantigo.

Feel free to stroll the grounds, look at the farm animals (but don't touch), walk through the various houses and view the colonial furnishings in the various rooms. Any questions? Feel free to ask the docents you will see, in full colonial dress, here and there on the property. They have been fully trained to answer your questions. At the end of the day, enjoy a glass of lemonade from one of the kids manning the little lemonade stand set up in front of the Purple House. The kids are all either from local schools or the children of staff who live in a now abandoned town hall building at the back of the property.

Daily events include a 10 a.m. lecture on the art of haulseining, the old-fashioned method of catching fish practiced by the local "Bonackers" years ago (that is no longer in use).

At noon daily, there is the classical violin quartet on the quadrangle, performed by musicians in formal colonial dress and wigs.

At three every day there is the public flogging of Bill McGintee, the last supervisor of the now defunct Town of East Hampton.

And at six every day there is the lowering of the flag ceremony. You will notice that all American flags on the property bear only thirteen stars. In the beginning, there were only thirteen colonies in America.

Between 1962 and 1983, the buildings were all purchased by de Menil and brought to her property on Further Lane in East Hampton for safekeeping. Development was rampant in the Town at that time. De Menil's motive was to keep them from being bulldozed down.

In 2006, de Menil gave all these historic homes to the township of East Hampton, together with $1.4 million for their upkeep. She paid to have these buildings moved to where they are now. At that time, the intention was to make them a centerpiece of a Town Hall campus of buildings that was located directly behind. Due to mismanagement by McGintee from 2004-09, the buildings were never fully restored. In the spring of 2010, the Town went into bankruptcy, the employees fled and by order of Governor Cuomo, the former Town of East Hampton became a part of the Township of Southampton. The temporary buildings, trailers and storage buildings in the back were torn down, the six colonial structures were lovingly restored by local craftsmen and the gardens that you see there in the back by the walkway from the parking field were planted.

Today, nearly two million visitors a year enjoy East Hampton Colonial Village, which, along with Old Bethpage Village, is under the umbrella of the New York State Parks Commission.

Please stay on the designated pathways, put trash in the containers and observe the list of rules on the sign by the entranceway. Photography on the property is welcomed. But there can be no pets, no smoking, no unattended children. Please do not bring your own food onto the premises, but do enjoy the fare at Ye Olde Taverne, at the back of the property, near to the parking field and the public restrooms. It features soft drinks from Snapple and beer from O'Doul's, the light, non-alcoholic beer. Both Snapple and O'Doul's are among our corporate sponsors.

The East Hampton Colonial Village is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit our sister colonial village, Old Bethpage, on Round Swamp Road in Old Bethpage, New York.