This photograph taken by Robert Hefner around 1980 shows the residence of Elizabeth Edwards Lockwood (1872-1960) and William A. Lockwood (1874-1966), a lawyer for the New York Curb Exchange, which later became the American Stock Exchange.
Built around 1680, the house is probably one of the oldest in East Hampton. The first owner is unknown, but the Osborns owned the land where it was built, near the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Woods Lane. Deacon Joseph Osborn (1705-1786) is the earliest known owner. The property is also identified with Abraham Fithian (1813-1876), who in owning it for many years ran a boarding house there. In 1889, Dr. George E. Monroe moved the house to Pudding Hill Lane.
The Lockwoods bought it in 1907, calling it Ivy Cottage because of the numerous vines covering it. William Lockwood asked Thomas Babcock (1856-1923), a local builder, to renovate the house, but he replied, “I can’t build you a house that will last as long as this.”
While living there, Elizabeth Lockwood worked toward preserving nature and educating the public about horticulture. She was a founding member of the Garden Club of East Hampton in 1915, later serving as its president from 1919 through 1920.
In 1934, when Mary Woodhouse gifted the Garden Club the use of several acres of her property to create a nature sanctuary, Elizabeth led the project of transforming the land into a trail for the public. She and other club members spent eight years laying paths, building bridges, creating handmade signs, and planting trees, wildflowers, and other vegetation. Her efforts contributed to the 1942 opening of the Nature Trail.
Elizabeth also served as chairwoman of the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s tree committee, with which she played a key role in preserving and restoring Main Street’s elm trees after the Hurricane of 1938.
The house still stands today on Pudding Hill Lane, where Elizabeth Lockwood lived while she helped transform East Hampton.
Mayra Scanlon is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
