Photos of the property by Douglas Elliman R.E.
This sweet Cape Cod-style house on Post Lane was recently sold to new owners. It is located on Pond Lane, a quiet street which begins on Little Plains Road, goes past the Old Southampton Burying Grounds, and ends behind St. John’s Episcopal Church. The current owner says it was moved twice before its current location. They say it was originally built north of the LIRR train tracks in 1740. It was moved in 1870, when the RR tracks were laid, to land then owned by S. Jackson (see 1873 map below) and now owned by Our Lady of the Hamptons School.
The current floor plan below shows the 1740 core with a centrally located chimney, which kept heat inside the house. It served as one flue for three fireplaces, each in different rooms.
Cape Cod-style houses were used throughout New England beginning in the late 17th century. They are built low and broad with a single-story frame, a steep pitched gabled roof and very little ornamentation. The simple symmetrical design was constructed of local materials to withstand high winds and stormy weather. It features a central front door flanked by multi-paned windows. The space above the 1st floor was often left unfinished usually with windows on the gable ends.
Just a handful of these Cape Cod houses remain in Southampton Village. Four surviving examples, all built during the 1700s, remain along the axis of South Main to North Main Streets. Most have additions and dormers which were added later.
This house was moved for the 3rd time in 1944 to Post Lane by Roderick Halsey Foster after he married Phyllis Halsey in 1939 which was announced in the NY Times. The Post family were early settlers in Southampton and owned a lot of farmland into the early 20th century.
After it was moved, the museum’s records state that carpenter David Bishop “painstakingly restored it, as no other builders would bother working with the old wood.”
The room in the photo above was the original kitchen. The wide plank paneling on the fireplace wall is original but was probably painted in the 18th century. The brickwork surrounding the firebox is modern and covers a built-in bread oven. The support beams on the ceiling were also stripped of original paint in the modern era.
The panel door on the left has a unique T-bar pattern. The extra wood paneling under the windows, only seen in this room, indicates that this was the “best parlor.” This is an 18th century term for a room containing the finest furnishings and reserved for entertaining special guests, family weddings and funerals.
Post Lane, formerly farmland owned by the Post family, was developed about 1900. This aerial view shows modest homes were built between then and the 1950s. The grounds on the lower left are the Old Southampton Burying Grounds. Most of the houses on the street have been enlarged. We hope that the new owners of 94 Post Lane will enjoy the charms of its 1740 exterior and historic core.