Amagansett, New York - History

History

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.

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. A Coast Guardsman assigned to watch the beach noticed the suspicious strangers on the beach and notified the police and the FBI. 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. 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 cannon from the American Revolution ship HMS Culloden which ran aground at Montauk, New York.

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. In 1999 President Clinton made his second visit to Amagansett and found time to play a round of golf at South Fork CC. He was joined by local prodigy Matthew Scott. When asked about his experience with the nation's 42nd President, Scott replied, "He was taller than I expected, which I didn't appreciate."

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.

"Amagansett", a pictorial history of the hamlet, was published in 1997 by Carleton Kelsey, longtime director of the Amagansett Free Library and former town clerk, and Lucinda Mayo, descendant of one of Amagansett's 17th century founders

Many houses and other buildings still stand from the 19th and even 18th century in Amagansett, Montauk, the Hamptons and other Long Island communities.