I was in the Hamptons for a few days. The Hamptons is actually a place I do go to every now and again.
(Yes, I’m now waiting for the people to start with the elite comments and whatever and yawn. Disney cruises aren’t my jam.)
But it gave me a little time to reflect.
One of the things is say what you want about the Hamptons in New York, but they care about historic preservation. They care about the way their communities look. I like that. But I think one of my favorite things that they do, which is great because the traffic is insane, is they actually enforce their pedestrian crosswalks.
But honestly, one of the things I truly liked the best is I didn’t see any political signs anywhere. As a matter of fact at a historic structure, that is now an adaptive reuse that I believe was in Bridgehampton, I saw a sign that said “no political signs allowed.”
Also important to note is the shopping areas along their main drags and even off of the beaten path are in size and scale with the rest of their communities out there. And I didn’t see giant gargantuan big box apartment buildings everywhere which was quite delightful. Architecture, even very modern design had thought and human scale and process and actual design.
It was of course absolutely fabulous people watching.
The food was pretty much wonderful everywhere we went, but I have to say the highlight was the most perfect lobster roll from a place called Shippies in Southampton. It was nice to get away from the over abundance of chain steakhouses, the mediocre, and pub food.
This is an area that has a lot of farming around it, so everything is very much farm to table, which makes a difference. And the produce stands! Amazing. Not a single fauxmer to be found anywhere, and the prices I saw on produce was actually a little better than in this area
And it’s a very long ride back-and-forth, and for people who know my eternal curiosity of things I also like watching what’s on the side of the road. It’s a great way to see where bad infill development has totally made a mess out of places from Long Island through the NYC boroughs. We should have learned from these mistakes already.
It’s also a place where you see somebody with a little tiny house on the side of the highway who is still growing a garden.
And again, as I mentioned, it’s the place of absolutely insane traffic and bad accidents.
I must mention again I adored a few days where I didn’t hear one person anywhere even discussing politics. I did however see a disgusting lit billboard on the highway leaving the Hamptons. This one seemed to be on Shinnecock Nation Land on the highway.
I was also around so many gorgeous gardens filled with hydrangeas and imaginative plantings.
I garden so that is something that I always love to see. This was the place where I truly fell in love with hydrangeas.
However, I also saw the effects of climate change and disease on what once was a stretch of road en route to Montauk that was filled with different kinds of pine and other things that just look completely dead.
It is somewhat of an out of body experience being in a place that caters so specifically to the super rich. And I’m not saying that for any other reason other than it’s true. Maybe that’s why things just get taken care of. I don’t know.
But I will admit I loved coming home to Chester County.
It’s nice to visit other places, but home is where your heart is and my heart is very much in Chester County.
