This historic beach town on Long Island's South Fork has grand oceanfront mansions, art galleries, and upscale boutiques along Jobs Lane. Popular with New York's elite since the 1800s.
Southampton, founded in 1640 as New York’s first English settlement, lets you touch history while enjoying coastal life. Step inside 17th-century saltbox houses still standing near Main Street, swim at Cooper’s Beach where dunes rise behind wide stretches of sand, or talk to Shinnecock tribal members about their ancestors’ connection to this land. The Parrish Art Museum displays works by American modernists in a barn-like building, and summer estates along Wickapogue Road reveal architectural styles from Tudor mansions to shingle-style cottages. Roadside stands sell strawberries and sweet corn from nearby fields, and trails at Conscience Point National Wildlife Refuge wind past salt marshes where herons hunt at low tide.
Beaches and Waterfront Areas
Cooper’s Beach draws visitors with its wide sandy shoreline, lifeguard patrols between May and September, and rental umbrellas for afternoon shade. Surfers paddle out at Flying Point Beach where waves break consistently over sandbars, and families wade in calmer waters near the jetty at Old Town Beach. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, you need a $50 daily parking permit or $400 seasonal pass for village beaches, purchased through the town website. Lifeguards watch swimmers daily from 10 AM until 6 PM, with red flags signaling strong currents. Join the September beach cleanup organized by Southampton Arts Center to collect marine debris while staff explain how dunes protect inland areas from storms.
History and Museums
At the Halsey Homestead, built eight years after Southampton’s founding, guides in period clothing demonstrate how settlers cooked in open hearths and stored food in root cellars. The Southampton History Museum keeps original documents like the 1640 agreement between colonists and the Shinnecock Nation, alongside whaling harpoons used by 19th-century sailors. The 1843 First Presbyterian Church still rings its 1895 tower bell every Sunday, with cemetery tours available to see Revolutionary War veterans’ graves carved with skull motifs. Reserve spots on the village’s Saturday walking tours between June and October to hear stories about Prohibition-era speakeasies and Gilded Age hotel fires.
Parks and Nature Areas
Agawam Park fills with music on July evenings when local bands play big-band jazz under its Victorian bandstand. Walk the 1.5-mile trail at Morton National Wildlife Refuge to spot ospreys diving for fish in Mill Creek or monarch butterflies resting on milkweed in late summer. Rent kayaks from the town marina to paddle Shinnecock Bay, where harbor seals pop their heads above water between November and March. Book tee times months ahead for Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, a links course established in 1891 with views of the Atlantic from elevated greens. The Southampton Youth Services complex stays busy with pickleball tournaments on its six courts and weekend markets selling honey from local apiaries.
Annual Events and Local Life
Southampton Arts Center screens indie films in its courtyard every August and hosts Friday night talks with photographers documenting Long Island’s fishing communities. During the first weekend of August, the Southampton Festival turns Rogers Mansion’s lawn into a stage for jazz bands and a pop-up market selling sea glass jewelry. In mid-December, crowds gather along Main Street to watch fire trucks draped with Christmas lights parade toward Lake Agawam, where fireworks follow the tree lighting. The Shinnecock Powwow each September invites visitors to watch grass dancers in regalia made from deer hide and porcupine quills, then try minced venison stew cooked over open pits. Check bulletin boards at the post office for flyers about ghost tours of North Sea Road taverns or clam-shucking lessons at the marine museum.
Getting Around and Services
Parking meters on Jobs Lane and Main Street charge $4 per hour from May to September, with free bike rentals available at the Chamber of Commerce using a driver’s license as deposit. Buy beach parking permits and bonfire permits online at least three days before your visit. Trains from Penn Station reach Southampton in 2.5 hours on weekdays, with extra cars added for summer weekends to accommodate beachgoers. Suffolk County Bus 92 stops every 60 minutes near the hospital, connecting to Bridgehampton’s art galleries and Sag Harbor’s whaling museum. Public restrooms at Cooper’s Beach stay open until 8 PM in July and August, and Southampton Hospital’s emergency room handles everything from surf injuries to bee stings year-round.
