Amagansett

History

Amagansett derives its name from the Montaukett 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 in June 1942, during World War II, a submarine dropped off four German spies 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 2007, the original Coast Guard station, which had been moved to a private residence in 1966 to protect it from demolition, was moved back 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's maritime history, including whaling relics and a cannon from the American Revolution ship HMS Culloden, which ran aground at Montauk. In 1998 President Bill Clinton, who was vacationing in East Hampton, gave a Saturday radio address from the Amagansett Fire House. Amagansett includes a section of Further Lane, which is a block from the ocean, and has one of East Hampton's biggest collections of mansions. In 2007, one of the estates sold for $107 million, the highest price for a private residential property. As part of the settlement, several 18th- and 19th-century buildings that had been moved…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of , of which is land and , or 0.37%, is water. At the end of the last Ice Age, Amagansett stood at Long Island's eastern tip. At that time, Montauk was an island in the Atlantic. In the intervening several thousand years, ocean currents, or littoral drift, filled in space with sand. This area is now known as Napeague. Distinct places within Amagansett include Amagansett village, Beach Hampton, and the Devon Colony on Gardiner's Bay. Other places of geographic significance include the "Walking Dunes" in Napeague and the Atlantic Double Dunes, which are protected by The Nature Conservancy and local and federal governments.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American herring gull, Smithsonian Gull

  Larus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 · Aves
  10,603
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  7,651
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  7,598
• Great Black-backed Gull

  Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7,546
• Double-crested Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson, 1831) · Aves
  6,257
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  6,074
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,958
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  5,811

Largest nearby schools

• EAST HAMPTON HIGH SCHOOL
  High · EAST HAMPTON · 1,015 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• SPRINGS SCHOOL
  Elementary · EAST HAMPTON · 689 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• JOHN M MARSHALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · EAST HAMPTON · 548 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• PIERSON MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL
  High · SAG HARBOR · 525 students · 7.5:1 ratio
• SAG HARBOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
  Elementary · SAG HARBOR · 426 students · 8.9:1 ratio
• MONTAUK SCHOOL
  Elementary · MONTAUK · 303 students · 7.4:1 ratio
• EAST HAMPTON MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · EAST HAMPTON · 265 students · 6.6:1 ratio
• BRIDGEHAMPTON SCHOOL
  Other · BRIDGEHAMPTON · 198 students · 4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.04 — 2019-04-09
  63 km SSE of Sagaponack, New York
• M 2.6 — 2015-01-13
  2 km E of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 3.3 — 2015-01-12
  0 km NE of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 2.66 — 2014-08-14
  6 km SW of Deep River Center, Connecticut