Shines for All

“Shines for All,” the motto of The East Hampton Star, goes back to the origins of this enterprise in the 19th century, when doing so was surely easier. The community some 130 years ago was quite homogeneous, comprised of farmers, fishermen, merchants, and a small group of professionals (along with a very small sprinkling of folks “from away” in fine weather).

The huge variety of people living here, and visiting here, now is so complex and kaleidoscopic that it could be the subject of an anthropological dissertation. But as I look at the houses at which we shine a light in our second seasonal HomeBook supplement today, I realize that we have taken our old motto to heart. This HomeBook is a celebration of eclecticism and idiosyncrasy.

We feature a house that needs almost no furnishings as it immerses those inside in a unique, surrounding native plain. We take a peak at an estate that allows its owner to retreat from the outside world into a meditative environment that juxtaposes Accabonac Harbor and the Far East. A house we stop at in Wainscott is a virtual museum of treasured artifacts from the owners’ travels and earlier American life. And we take a look at a cottage where a resident has made a home for all the books gathered in a literary career. 

Homogenization may seem an almost overwhelming force in our lives in 2015, in architecture as well as other arts. But East Enders, and their nesting places, are invariably worth a visit.