Summer Residences on Ocean Avenue, East Hampton

Ocean Avenue, East Hampton. Postcard : Gary Lawrance Collection.

Here is a beautiful scene on Ocean Avenue of early summer cottages. In the first years of the Hamptons, when it became a fashionable resort for New York's social elite, many of the houses where easily visible from the road. It was only later that the large privet hedges that surround many of the homes in the estate sections, were planted. The house in the foreground was built for Reverend Stephen Mershon circa 1870s. The house in the background was built for Arthur Van Brunt circa early 1900's.

 Amazingly it seems these two homes still exist, looking very much as they always were.See them HERE today on Bing Maps. Make sure you open them in Bird's eye view.

Below are some books I recommend  about historic houses in the Hamptons.

Houses of the Hamptons, 1880-1930

Gary Lawrance & Anne Surchin

East Hampton's Heritage, An Illustrated Architectural Record 

 Lancaster/Stern/Hefner

Lost Hamptons

Steven Petrow with Richard Barons

Images of America East Hampton

 John W. Rae/East Hampton Library

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