East Hampton and Amagansett: The Plains and the Devon Colony
East Hampton Village traces back to 1648, when Puritan settlers laid out plantations in classic New England fashion around a wide common -- today's Main Street area -- on the plain north of Hook Pond. Home lots of 8 to 12 acres flanked that common, and the surrounding farmland beyond it was divided into three named plains: the Eastern Plain, the Great Plain, and the Little Plain. Those three divisions, not a modern developer's marketing list, are the village's real internal geography, and this page sticks to them rather than inventing trendier-sounding district names no source actually supports. A few miles east, the hamlet of Amagansett was settled in 1680 by families including Baker, Conklin, and Barnes, along with Dutch brothers Abraham and Jacob Schellinger who arrived between 1680 and 1690; its name derives from a Montaukett-language phrase meaning place of good water. In the late 19th century, Procter & Gamble executives established Amagansett's Devon Colony, an enclave built on understated, generational wealth rather than public display -- a genuinely different identity from the artist-colony boom that shaped East Hampton Village's own plains a few miles west. This page walks through both, plains first, then Devon Colony, without blurring the two together.
The Eastern Plain: Egypt Lane to Cross Highway
The Eastern Plain runs from Egypt Lane to Cross Highway, part of the farmland that originally surrounded East Hampton Village's founding common after the 1648 settlement. When artists discovered the area's agrarian landscape in the final quarter of the 1800s, sparking a summer-colony boom across the plains, the Eastern Plain's response looked different from its neighbors: it hosted sizable estates by the early 1900s, rather than the smaller cottages that rose elsewhere. That is the beginning of East Hampton's long-running identity as a wealthy summer colony, and it started here, on land that had been ordinary farmland just decades before.
A buyer weighing property on the Eastern Plain today is looking at ground with a documented, century-plus history of larger-scale estate building rather than modest cottage development. That does not by itself establish a current price point or lot size for any specific listing, and no exact current figure for this area was confirmed in the research behind this page -- treat any price range you hear as illustrative and confirm actual current values with a local agent.
The Great Plain: Hook Pond to Lily Pond, Near Ocean Avenue
The Great Plain stretches from Hook Pond to Lily Pond, and it was here that the late-19th-century artist-colony boom left its most visible mark: modest shingled cottages rose near Ocean Avenue and Lily Pond Lane as artists, drawn by the area's agrarian scenery, settled in for the summer. That is a distinct character from the Eastern Plain's larger estates just to the east -- the Great Plain's founding identity is smaller-scale and artist-driven, even though both areas trace back to the same 1648 division of farmland around the village common.
Historic structures from East Hampton Village's founding era still stand nearby, including Hook Mill, Gardiner Windmill, and the Home Sweet Home house, restored under the direction of Historic District Consultant Robert J. Hefner. None of those structures sits inside a single plain exclusively, but they anchor the same historic district that gives the Great Plain's shingled-cottage character its context. A buyer drawn to this area's artist-colony history should still confirm current zoning, historic-district restrictions, and price expectations with a local agent rather than assuming the 19th-century cottage character applies uniformly to every listing near Ocean Avenue or Lily Pond Lane today.
The Little Plain: Lily Pond to Georgica Pond
The Little Plain completes the three-way division of East Hampton Village's original farmland, running from Lily Pond to Georgica Pond. Like the Eastern and Great Plains, it was carved out of the acreage surrounding the village's 1648 common, and it shares the same broad artist-colony-era history that transformed the plains from agrarian land into a summer-colony destination in the final quarter of the 1800s.
The research behind this page did not turn up a distinct architectural signature specific to the Little Plain the way it did for the Eastern Plain's larger estates or the Great Plain's shingled cottages, and this page does not invent one. What is documented is the boundary itself -- Lily Pond to Georgica Pond -- and its shared origin with the other two plains. A buyer interested in this stretch should ask a local agent what is currently available there rather than assuming either the estate character or the cottage character automatically applies.
Amagansett and the Devon Colony: Old Money, Kept Quiet
Amagansett is its own hamlet, settled in 1680, decades after East Hampton Village itself, by families including Baker, Conklin, and Barnes along with Dutch brothers Abraham and Jacob Schellinger, who arrived between 1680 and 1690. Its identity diverges sharply from the plains a few miles west: in the late 19th century, Procter & Gamble executives established the Devon Colony, an exclusive enclave built around generational legacy and understated wealth rather than public display.
That is a genuinely distinct posture from East Hampton Village's own artist-colony-turned-Gilded-Age-estate story. Where the Eastern Plain's early estates grew out of a visible summer-colony boom that artists and cottage-builders could see happening around them, the Devon Colony's defining trait is discretion: its properties rarely enter public real estate markets and maintain price discretion as a matter of course. No specific current Devon Colony property count, price, or named family beyond unnamed Procter & Gamble executives was confirmed in the research behind this page, and none is invented here -- if you are pursuing property in or near the Devon Colony, expect a market that does not advertise itself, and work with a local agent who has direct relationships there rather than relying on public listings alone.
How the Plains and Devon Colony Fit Together, Honestly
East Hampton Village and Amagansett hamlet are both part of the Town of East Hampton, which recorded a 2020 census population of 28,385, up from 21,457 in 2010, with a July 2025 estimate of 29,400 -- a 3.7 percent increase from April 2020 -- and a town-wide population density of 381.9 people per square mile as of 2020. East Hampton Village itself had an estimated 2024 population of 1,297, with a third-party projection of 1,553 by 2026; that same source reported a 49.3 percent population change from 2019 to 2024, an annual rate of 9.9 percent. These village-level figures are third-party estimates rather than confirmed Census Bureau counts for those specific years, and no official Census Bureau hamlet-level population figure specific to Amagansett was found in this research pass -- only the Town-wide Census-confirmed figures above and the flagged village-level estimate.
The village's 2024 estimated median household income was $106,250, with a 3.4 percent poverty rate among families, a median age of 57.5 years, and a population that was 68.5 percent White, 25.8 percent Hispanic, and 2.6 percent two or more races. None of that demographic picture, and nothing else on this page, should be read as a current home price, property tax rate, or flood insurance premium -- no such figure specific to East Hampton Village or Amagansett hamlet was confirmed in this research pass, and none is invented here. Before making an offer on the Eastern, Great, or Little Plain, or pursuing anything connected to the Devon Colony, talk to a local real estate agent about what is actually on and off the market, a licensed insurance agent about flood zone and premium specifics, and, where relevant, a tax professional -- nothing on this page is legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data drawn from research on East Hampton Village and the hamlet of Amagansett, New York: East Hampton Village's establishment in 1648, when Puritan settlers laid out plantations around a wide common (today's Main Street area) on the plain north of Hook Pond, with home lots of 8 to 12 acres flanking the common and surrounding farmland divided into the Eastern Plain (Egypt Lane to Cross Highway), Great Plain (Hook Pond to Lily Pond), and Little Plain (Lily Pond to Georgica Pond); historic structures still standing including Hook Mill, Gardiner Windmill, and the Home Sweet Home house, restored under Historic District Consultant Robert J. Hefner's direction; the final-quarter-of-the-1800s artist-colony boom that produced modest shingled cottages near Ocean Avenue and Lily Pond Lane on the Great Plain and sizable estates on the Eastern Plain by the early 1900s; Amagansett's 1680 settlement by families including Baker, Conklin, and Barnes and Dutch brothers Abraham and Jacob Schellinger (arrived 1680-1690), with the hamlet's name derived from a Montaukett-language phrase meaning place of good water; the late-19th-century establishment of Amagansett's Devon Colony by Procter & Gamble executives as an exclusive enclave built on generational legacy and understated wealth, with properties that rarely enter public markets and maintain price discretion; Town of East Hampton census population of 21,457 in 2010 and 28,385 in 2020, with a July 2025 estimate of 29,400 (up 3.7 percent from April 2020) and town-wide population density of 381.9 per square mile in 2020; East Hampton Village-specific third-party estimates of 1,297 population in 2024 and a 2026 projection of 1,553 (a reported 49.3 percent change from 2019 to 2024, a 9.9 percent annual rate), 2024 estimated median household income of $106,250, poverty rate of 3.4 percent of families, median age of 57.5 years, and race/ethnicity of 68.5 percent White, 25.8 percent Hispanic, and 2.6 percent two or more races. No exact current (2026) home price, property tax rate, or flood insurance premium specific to East Hampton Village or Amagansett hamlet was independently confirmed this research pass, and none is invented here. No official U.S. Census Bureau hamlet-level population figure specific to Amagansett was found; only Town-wide Census-confirmed figures and the flagged third-party village-level estimate are used above. No specific current Devon Colony property count, price, or named family beyond unnamed Procter & Gamble executives was confirmed, and none is invented here. This page does not reuse Montauk's lighthouse, Carl Fisher, or Camp Hero material, nor Red Bank, New Jersey's Navesink River material -- this is East Hampton and Amagansett's own documented history. Confirm current prices, availability, flood zone specifics, and Devon Colony access with a local real estate agent, a licensed insurance agent, and, where relevant, a tax professional before making any purchase decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice.