Southampton History Museum House Tour Returns To Insider's View Format

The Southampton History Museum’s annual tour of Southampton homes returns Saturday, September 10, for its 13th edition and will once again take on the theme “Insider’s View.”

During the past two years, the event was modified in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and dubbed “Outsider’s View,” with no access to the inside of homes on the tour and a greater emphasis on the homes’ gardens. With COVID now much less of a concern, the popular event and important fundraiser for the museum has returned to its normal format — and will conclude with a Champagne reception at the museum’s Rogers Mansion catered by Sant Ambroeus.

In addition to St. Andrew’s Dune Church on Gin Lane, which is a regular stop on the tour, and the museum’s own circa 1683 Halsey House on South Main Street, the 2022 event will include stops at four private homes. Southampton History Museum Executive Director Tom Edmonds recently discussed what tourgoers can expect to see and the excitement in the leadup to the event.

Edmonds noted that the tour provides one-fourth of the Southampton History Museum’s annual budget, allowing the museum to provide programming for free.

The tour is self-guided, though docents will be at each stop to share knowledge about the home’s history and the furnishings inside.

“Sometimes the homeowners are there, and sometimes they’re not,” Edmonds said. “It’s up to them, but it’s always fun to have homeowners there who get excited about their house. They’re proud. They love their house, and that’s the kind of people we want on the tour.”

He said many friendships have been made on the tour.

“The people who come to this are having fun,” he said. “They’re having a day in the village that’s unique. There isn’t anything else like this.”

The Captain George White House is a historic home in the Southampton Village that briefly belonged to the museum. Its namesake made it big in the California Gold Rush in the mid 19th century before returning to his hometown of Southampton and taking over the house on the corner of Main Street and Jagger Lane, which had belonged to his father. In 2007, Madeleine DeWeil White, the wife of a White descendant, died and left the Greek Revival-style white farmhouse to the museum in an unrestricted bequest. The museum was finally able to sell the house in 2015.

“It took eight years because it came on the market during the 2008 crash,” Edmonds recalled. “We just could not find a buyer — and it was a wreck.”

The property is zoned for both residential and commercial use, and it’s also in a historic district, meaning the house could not be substantially changed.

Edmonds said the museum was lucky to find a builder who purchased the house and restored it.

“He did a lot to preserve it and expanded it,” he said. “It’s historic and lush at the same time.”

Edmonds noted the builder also had trouble finding a buyer. “He spent millions of dollars on it and couldn’t flip it,” he said.

The builder eventually did sell the home to a family who uses it as a summer residence, Edmonds said, and now the home is on the market once again.

The oldest part of the home dates back to 1750, while the side of the house that faces Main Street was built in 1850, according to Edmonds.

Cocoon House is a modern, LEED-certified, sustainably designed home in Southampton Village with shell-like architectural forms and a shingle-style facade.

“It’s oval, it’s an egg-shape — nothing’s square. It’s amazing,” Edmonds said.

Cocoon House sits on property that once was part of an estate designed by Stanford White and built for Samuel Parrish, who called it White Fence.

“It’s a serendipitous pairing of historic and ultra-ultramodern,” Edmonds said.

The home’s design includes thick walls on the west and north sides to retain heat in winter and glass on the south and east sides to welcome natural light and ocean breezes, according to the museum.

Located on Cobb Road in Water Mill, Cape Cobb is a Colonial Revival-style home. It’s recently redecorated in a traditional style but with “more light-hearted, whimsical flair,” according to the museum. It has a covered back terrace overlooking a deep lawn, with lushly landscaped grounds with boxwoods, climbing roses and hydrangeas.

Set on 2.5 acres in Water Mill fronting Burnett Creek, Vintage Villa is a Tuscan-style village built in the 1920s but brought up-to-date. The interior is redecorated by the most recent owners and the revamped grounds include formal gardens and stepped terraces leading to the water, plus garden paths leading to distinct garden spaces such as the gated swimming pool garden. The estate also includes a pool house and guest house.

“It’s just a generous house to walk into, like any mansion you would go into — it’s huge,” Edmonds said. “It’s really, really nice.”

Tickets to the tour are $150 in advance or $175 on the day of the tour. Purchase at southamptonhistory.org/iv or call 631-283-2494.