Georgica Association

The Georgica Association is a private association on the west, Wainscott, shore of Georgica Pond. Its distinguishing asset is the ocean beach between the Beach Lane road end and the Georgica Pond gut, the cut through the barrier where the pond is opened to the Atlantic. The association owns that beach.

That makes it an exception in East Hampton Town. Under the 1686 Dongan Patent, which created the East Hampton Town Trustees, ocean beaches were common land, and the Trustees still hold most of them for the public. The East Hampton Star has described the association's stretch as one of the few beaches in town whose private ownership predates the Trustees. The Trustees' own description of the ocean beaches they claim runs west of Napeague Lane to the Georgica Association and west of the Georgica Association to Town Line Road. The association's beach is the gap.

This page covers what the public record shows about that ownership and the association's dealings with the Trustees. What an individual owner holds inside the association is set by the deed and the association's governing documents, which are not public.

What the association owns

Press accounts describe the association as a private enclave of about 100 acres on the west bank of the pond, with its own beach and a bath house. The beach is owned by the association, not by the individual house lots, so whatever use a house has of it comes through the association.

No filed map, tax district or municipal designation defining the association's boundary turned up in the public record. An address on the Wainscott side of the pond, a "Georgica" road name or a view of the pond does not establish membership. The deed, the association's declaration and bylaws, and the Suffolk County tax map do.

The association and the Town Trustees

The Trustees manage Georgica Pond and open, or "let," it to the ocean in spring and fall, continuing a practice that predates them. The opening lets spawning fish in and out and lowers the pond when high water floods pond-front property. The traditional route for the trucks and excavators that do the work runs across the association's beach. The Trustees' deputy clerk said in 2017 that dredging equipment cannot reach the pond without crossing association property. The other approach, across the public beach on the east side of the gut from West End Road, was reported in 2012 to be blocked to machinery by erosion.

That geography has produced a long negotiation rather than a lawsuit:

• January 2012. A contractor needed to cross the association's beach to take Trustee sand from the pond. The association's lawyers asked for up to 2,000 cubic yards of sand without charge in exchange for access. The Trustees refused.
• September 2012. Association counsel wrote that the Trustees and their contractors could no longer use association property to dredge the pond, or for any commercial purpose, and invited a discussion of "price, insurance, indemnification." The association's president cited equipment, sand stockpiling and liability.
• October 2012. The Trustees weighed a license agreement. Their attorney said the board had declined to sign one before.
• August 2017. The two reached a five-year memorandum of understanding. The Trustees could cross association land to dredge the south end of the pond. In return they would stockpile beach-compatible sand to rebuild the dune in front of the association: 3,000 cubic yards in the first year and 1,500 a year after that, with up to 1,000 cubic yards more at the bid price plus $6 a yard. The stated aim was also to reshape the gut so that natural openings break on Trustee land rather than eroding the association's dune.
• March 2020. The Trustees were in the second year of a planned 10-year maintenance-dredging project. The Trustees' clerk said natural openings had tended to break at the west end and eat into the dune along the association, threatening its bath house. The association agreed to buy some of the excavated sand to stabilize its beach.

No court case between the association and the Trustees was found. The 2017 agreement ran five years. Its status after that term, whether renewed, replaced or lapsed, was not confirmed from public records as of November 2026.

What it means for an owner

Three things follow from the record.

The beach is a private right, not a Town permit. Elsewhere in East Hampton, ocean-beach access is a Town and Trustee matter. Here, the beach next to the house belongs to the association, and use of it comes with membership. What membership conveys, and on what terms, is in the association's documents.

The pond opening runs through the association's land. Pond level, flooding of pond-front lawns and the stability of the association's own dune all depend on how and when the Trustees open the gut, and the Trustees' access depends on the association. A buyer should ask whether an access agreement is currently in force.

The dune at the gut is a shared problem. The association has bought sand to protect its beach and has bargained for it. A buyer should ask about the association's shore-protection history, any outstanding obligations, and what its reserves or assessments fund.

Dues, assessments, rental rules and any review of new construction by the association are not in the public record. Ask for the declaration, bylaws, rules, recent budgets and minutes before contract. Town zoning, building permits, wetlands review on the pond and coastal rules at the beach apply as they do anywhere else in Wainscott. The private roads and beach rights guide covers the general questions.

Questions to settle before contract

• Is the parcel inside the association, and what does the deed say about beach, pond and road rights?
• What do the declaration and bylaws require: dues, special assessments, voting, rental limits, construction approvals?
• Is there a current access or sand agreement between the association and the Trustees?
• What has the association spent on its dune and bath house, and are more assessments planned?
• What do the survey, the flood map and the Town's wetlands mapping show for the pond edge of the lot?

Related pages

Wainscott covers the hamlet around the association. Georgica Pond covers the whole pond, including the East Hampton Village shore. Beach Lane is the Town road to the ocean at the association's western edge.