Sagaponack
Sagaponack was a farming hamlet of a few hundred people between the ocean and Sagg Pond, and it still grows potatoes and corn — but the fields now sit between houses that regularly change hands above fifty million dollars. Incorporating as a village in 2005 to control its own zoning, it has one general store, no traffic lights, and beaches reached by lanes that end in sand.
Why go
Farmland between the ocean and the pond — still worked, and worth more per acre than anywhere in the country. A hamlet of six hundred — one general store, no traffic lights, and lanes that end in sand. Ocean beaches with no development — the dunes are protected and the houses sit behind them. The Hamptons without the main street — Bridgehampton and Sagaponack are minutes apart and nothing alike.
The character
Sagaponack — the name is Shinnecock, for "land of the big ground nuts" — was a farming settlement between the Atlantic and Sagg Pond, growing potatoes and corn on some of the best soil in New York State. It still does: several farms operate here, and the fields between the houses are working land rather than landscaping, which is the single thing that distinguishes the place from its neighbours.
What changed was the value of a view. Writers came first — Truman Capote and Peter Matthiessen both lived here — and then the money, until the hamlet regularly appeared in lists of the most expensive zip codes in America. In 2005 the residents voted to incorporate as a village, principally to control their own zoning against subdivision, and the result is around six hundred people, one general store, a school with a handful of pupils and lanes that run between potato fields and stop at the dunes. It is the quietest place in the Hamptons and the most expensive, which is not a coincidence.
Places of character
Sagg Main Beach — the ocean at the end of Sagg Main Street, with dunes and no buildings behind it. Sagaponack General Store — the village's only commerce; coffee, sandwiches and the noticeboard. Sagg Pond — the tidal pond behind the dunes, with swans and a narrow lane running along it. The potato fields — in August the corn is head-high and the farm stands are open on the roadside. Madoo Conservancy — Robert Dash's two-acre garden, an artist's own creation, open a few days a week. Bridgehampton and Wainscott — the neighbouring hamlets with the restaurants, five minutes either way.
The way to do it
Cycle — everything is flat and the lanes are the point. Buy from farm stands, which work on an honesty box in some cases. Get a beach permit or walk in from the end of the lane. And come in September, when the crowd has gone, the ocean is warmest and the corn is at its best.
One perfect day
Coffee at the general store when it opens, with the farm trucks going past. Cycle the lanes between the fields — Sagg Main, Daniels Lane, Parsonage — with the ocean appearing at the end of each one. An hour on Sagg Main Beach before it warms. Late morning at the Madoo Conservancy if it is open, an artist's garden that takes forty minutes and stays with you. Lunch assembled from a farm stand: corn, tomatoes, peaches, eaten on the pond. Afternoon swim, then a cycle to Bridgehampton for an early drink. Dinner back at the house or in Wainscott, and the beach again at dusk with nobody on it.
Grand hotels
n/a — Sagaponack has no hotel; the Hamptons' rooms are in Bridgehampton, East Hampton and Sag Harbor.
When to go
Best expression: September — warm ocean, gone crowds, and the farm produce at its peak. Consider: late May and June, before the season, with long light. Avoid if possible: July and August weekends, when Route 27 turns into a car park.
The frame
Ideal stay 3 nights · Minimum 2 nights · Best arrival train to Bridgehampton, then a bicycle · Airport JFK, 150 km · Walkability by bicycle, entirely · Best without a car yes, with a bicycle