Habitat

It’s like the opening sequence of a 1930s Hollywood movie. You approach down a long, straight driveway shaded by Japanese Zelcova trees, and the introduction creates moody, cinematic suspense with wildly contrasting patches of light and shadow continuing throughout the grounds and into the house itself, where there are courtyards and pools of light within pools of light.

More than six years after the project was proposed, Hook Mill Estates, a subdivision with 11 house lots on 10.5 acres off Accabonac Road in East Hampton Village, will soon be on the market.

Experts say certain household items should never be put into storage, and Abigail Cane agrees. Her list runs the gamut from antique furniture, white couches, and artwork down to old cellphones, slightly used candles, and clothes that don’t fit.

Pulling up family and profession­al roots in upstate New York to live closer to the ocean in 1999, Richard and Rosanne Barons settled into a three-bedroom house in Springs that had been built as a small summer cottage. Over time they transformed it into a serene oasis filled with carefully chosen treasures, each with a story of its own.

There’s a lot to be learned from the old one-room schoolhouses that are scattered across the East End. Some have become museums or civic meetinghouses, while others simply stand as landmarks of bygone eras, and at least one, in Sagaponack, is still in use as a school. While their sizes and shapes varied, most of the one-room schoolhouses shared a common element: They were in communities that built anew whenever a tragedy such as a fire ravaged a schoolhouse or when the local population of children simply outgrew the existing space. These are some that stand out.

Paul J. Muñoz was trying to relax while recovering from hernia surgery at home in Springs recently when all he could hear was the sound of leaf blowers and mowers. “It was very loud and annoying. I thought there’s got to be a better way.”

A gray and rainy spring did little to uplift the spirits, but it bodes well for the gardens of Landscape Pleasures, the annual horticulture event of the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. This year, in addition to the usual Saturday symposium and Sunday garden tours, a related workshop and film screening have been added to the offerings.

The Star’s hunter-gatherer, Durell Godfrey, wishes everyone a safe start of the summer season. While you’re at it, she suggests you shop locally and drive carefully. Enjoy yourself, keep calm, and carry on.
 

‘I have about 7,500 books in this library, and approximately an equal number downstairs,” said Michael Braverman, while seated in the biggest room of his East Hampton house, where wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling shelves are filled. “I don’t buy a lot of books anymore.”

It’s a hearty pink, vibrant, almost the hue of those Hostess Sno Ball snack cakes, if you’ve ever dared to indulge, or a flamingo fresh from its latest inhalation of shrimp.

Even though New York State says new houses have to measure at least 800 square feet and existing ones being renovated must be at least 600 square feet, Matias Whitmore and his companion, Nikki Seelbach, have one that comes in at only 575 square feet.

The Southampton History Museum’s house tour this year will open the doors to eight houses that illustrate Southampton’s architectural history from the 17th century to the present.