The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project, is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included suggested tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture of each U.S. state and territory. Major U.S. cities and several regions were also given their own separate guidebooks.
The state guides give a fascinating snapshot of American life in the 1930s. Written in a lively and approachable style, they detail and celebrate the rich diversity that our country displayed at that time. The writers’ enthusiasm is infectious and their guide is as much fun to read today as it must have been for travelers in the 1930s.
Several historians have written about the American Guide Series over the past 80 years, but no one, to my knowledge, has used them as current-day travel guides. That is just what I set out to do. I am an American historian, art photographer, and enthusiastic traveler. I have read each of these guides. I love them for their wonderful enthusiasm and their curiosity about every aspect of regional life—from food, to linguistics, to folklore, to statistics, to geography, to environment, to history—and especially for their liberal attitudes and respect for diversity. In this series, I will be posting photo essays and articles based upon tours recommended in the guides.
Fern L. Nesson
Bridgehampton was farmland from the first three centuries of its existence. Settlers in the 1640s displaced the Shinnecock natives (who called the area Sagaponack) and they soon discovered that plowed, flat, farm fields bordering the Atlantic Ocean were perfect for growing potatoes.
For the next three hundred years, potato farming and fishing supported a sparse population. When the New York State Guide was written in 1940, nothing much had changed. Bridgehampton was deemed of so little interest to tourists, that the Guide devoted exactly three sentences to its entire 13.6 square miles.
Bridgehampton, settled in 1660, is a lively shopping center for the countryside. Wick’s Tavern, a two-story white-shingled building was built in 1686. During the Revolution it harbored British soldiers.
New York State Guide, p. 712.
After World War II, Bridgehampton was been totally transformed. At first, the town began to attract artists and writers for its beauty and isolation. In the 1970’s, they were followed by wealthy sunseekers looking to build beach homes within reach of New York City.
Now the epicenter of the Hamptons, Bridgehampton has become an elegant ocean playground for the super-rich. Traces remain of old Sagaponack including its one-room school house, a few 18th century churches and houses, scattered potato fields and street names like Butter Lane and Lumber Lane that recall the town’s farming past. But mostly, the town is unrecognizable from its modest beginnings.
The stores on Main Street now sell fine art, designer clothes, rosé from Bridgehampton’s vineyards, and lobster salad at $100/lb. Prices are stunningly high for just about everything. Last summer, the French bakery was charging $7 for a croissant. Martha Stewart was in line ahead of me. She ordered one. When the cashier told her the price, she turned to me and exclaimed the classic Hamptons line: “Can you believe the prices they charge out here?”
Yesterday, I ordered a BLT to go at The Candy Kitchen, a 1925 luncheonette with an original, old-fashioned soda-fountain. It was nothing special—white bread, store-bought tomato, a few slices of bacon, iceberg lettuce. Price $14.99!
Visually, it is the land that has changed the most. The immense potato fields are mostly gone. The duck farm that raised the famous and delicious Long Island ducks is no more. Porsches and Ferraris have replaced tractors on the roads. Small farmhouses are extinct. In their place are mansions of every style. They occupy large lots, each with its own tennis court, swimming pool, and extensive flower garden, some even with grass landing strips for small planes.
Sagaponack is now the most expensive neighborhood in the United States with a median home price of $8.5 million. The Renner home on 100 acres, is the largest home in this country. It has 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms, its own power plant, three swimming pools, a 164-seat home theater, a basketball court, a bowling alley, and a garage with space for 100 cars. It is valued at $249 million dollars.
Current real estate ads (shown below) indicate that the trend continues.
Unimaginable wealth and ostentation aside, Bridgehampton still has natural beauty aplenty—ocean views, a magnificent beach, with clear temperate water, rolling waves and powder-white sand, a gentle climate perfect for growing wine, and the fantastic light that has always attracted artists from Fairfield Porter to Jackson Pollack. If you can afford to stay for a few days, Bridgehampton is worth the trip.
July, 2022
