June 2009

EDITOR’S LETTER

In 2003, during my first stint at HC&G, then-editor Newell Turner decided to publish a guide to Hamptons antiques shops and appointed himself and me as surveyors. With an enormous makeshift map, we set out to chronicle every store and warehouse along the region’s major—and not-so-major—arteries. I sat on the passenger’s side with a highlighter, tracing the road as we drove, marking a dot for every shop visited.

Routes 27 and 114 were a breeze with stores offering legible signs, friendly owners—even business cards. But for every Main Street storefront there was a vendor stationed off-piste. More than once we hesitated in front of a barn strewn with bric-a-brac: unconventional retailer or private collection? Newell would seek the shopkeeper while I’d man the driver’s seat, foot hovering over the gas pedal in case we provoked the ire of a territorial dog—or resident.

Many of these shops have vanished, but the maxim of our reporting adventure holds true: the most compelling design thrives in the darndest places. Cruising the freeways of design will turn up predictable finds; it’s the back roads and byways, the elusive and the undiscovered that quicken the pulse.

Each issue of HC&G is an opportunity to share our finds with you—an invitation to peek inside some of the most beautiful homes and gardens on the East End. Our writers and photographers relish the chance to visit a village home hidden in plain sight as much as an estate shrouded by privet.

I’m excited to welcome back many of our talented contributors and introduce a few new faces. This summer we’re partnering with Curbed.com, the real estate website founded by former HC&G managing editor, Lockhart Steele. On it, you’ll find up-to-the-minute coverage from Deeds & Don’ts columnist Scoop Drummond plus original posts and photos from contributors, including from you, our readers.

Now in our eighth season of publishing, we’ve presented scores of residences, but we’ll never canvass it all. And thank goodness. As with antiquing and reporting, it’s the thrill of the chase that brings us back.

SOPHIE DONELSON
Editor in Chief