West End Road

West End Road is the Village of East Hampton's farthest reach toward Georgica Pond. It leaves Apaquogue Road and runs, by a 2011 press account, about a mile out a strip that narrows as it goes, with the Atlantic on one side and Georgica Pond on the other.

That position defines the road. Parcels can hold ocean frontage, pond frontage, or both. The same position puts them in the most exposed coastal landscape in the Village.

The road is reported to be private, owned to its centerline by the parcels on either side, and one lane wide at points. Those are title facts to verify, not descriptions to repeat. The private roads and beach rights guide sets out what to ask.

The houses on the record

The 1988 National Register nomination for the Village lists six West End Road houses as individual components, all large summer residences "near the shore at the southwest corner of the village": the 1891 Sedgwick-James House, the 1897 F.S. Philips House, the 1926 Ellery James House by Roger H. Bullard, the 1927-28 Grantland Rice and Ring Lardner houses, and the 1928 Nathaniel Campbell House.

The nomination treats the Rice and Lardner houses as evidence that the Shingle style was still being built in East Hampton in the late 1920s, after it had faded elsewhere in large-house design. It cites the Bullard house as part of a large, intact group of English-revival estate houses built near the ocean in the 1920s.

National Register listing alone does not trigger Village review. A buyer should check, separately, whether the Village has designated the house as a landmark under Village Code chapter 176.

Access, ownership and the Village strip

The 2011 account describes a 1979 sale of a 50-foot strip, ocean to pond and crossing the road, to the Village of East Hampton, intended to preserve shore access for fishing and clamming. A berm later closed the pond-side parking area. The same account notes that parking is not permitted on Apaquogue Road.

Two consequences follow for an owner. First, the road surface, maintenance and any gate are private arrangements among owners, and the governing instrument (a road agreement, an association or nothing at all) should be in the file. Second, a public or Village interest sits within the road corridor. Its current terms should come from the Village, not from custom.

The nearest Village ocean beach with permit parking is Georgica. The Village requires a permit to park there from May 15 to September 15.

Coastal conditions

The Town's coastal program places a Coastal Barrier Resources Act unit (a federally mapped undeveloped coastal barrier where new federal flood insurance and federal spending are restricted) at Georgica and Wainscott ponds extending to the ocean. Whether any West End Road parcel falls inside that unit is a parcel question with direct insurance consequences.

The same document records that the federal groins on the Village ocean beach have affected beaches to the west, and New York State maps a Coastal Erosion Hazard Area along this shore. The pond side brings its own regime. The East Hampton Town Trustees open Georgica Pond to the ocean twice a year, in spring and fall, to exchange water; pond levels and the beach at the cut change with that cycle. Pond-edge work can require wetland permits, and the buyer should confirm which of the Village, the Trustees and the state has jurisdiction over the specific shoreline.

The Town's 2022 draft coastal resiliency plan named East Hampton Village as a focus area. On a strip with water on both sides, elevation, access during storms and the lawful footprint of the existing house matter as much as the view.

Questions to settle before contract

• Who owns the road bed in front of the parcel, and what recorded rights does the parcel have over the rest of the road?
• Is there a road maintenance agreement or association, and what has it cost recently?
• Does the parcel touch the Village-owned strip, and what rights does the public or the Village hold there?
• Is any part of the parcel inside a Coastal Barrier Resources Act unit or the Coastal Erosion Hazard Area?
• Which structures on the ocean and pond sides were permitted, and by whom?
• Is the house one of the six National Register components, and is it also a Village landmark?

Nearby

Lily Pond Lane carries the Village's dune estates east. Apaquogue Road is the road West End Road leaves from. Across the pond, Wainscott is governed by the Town, not the Village.

Considering West End Road?

Request a private pricing review for a specific West End Road property from The Roebling Research Desk, organized around ocean and pond frontage, road ownership, coastal designations, historic status and approvals.