EDITOR'S LETTER

It is with excitement we at HC&G approach the coming season—our fifth anniversary year. And it is in this anniversary year I join the talented team of Cottages & Gardens full time. I have had the pleasure of spending memorable days in the Hamptons since I was young.

As my travels and work have taken me elsewhere, I have always looked forward to the time I was able to escape back home here...go for walks on these wonderful beaches, enjoy special birthdays and weddings, eat at a favorite restaurant or try a new one, pick wild blueberries from a friend's house, go antiquing and visit with dear friends. I have also been welcomed into many of your homes and lives as I have written stories for HC&G over these past years. I have seen tiny cottages get face-lifts, sprawling mansions suddenly appear on potato fields, sleepy towns turn into vibrant happenings. I have always had the good fortune of experiencing Hamptons life and creating new and wonderful memories.

Truly, there is no other place like it. Our 11 contributing essayists from various walks of life analyze the present and peer into the future of the Hamptons.