Farmers and fishermen who arrived from Connecticut across Long Island Sound founded East Hampton in 1648. Farming and fishing were the major industries until the beginning of the 20th century.
What is now the area of large Victorian homes near the ocean around Lily Pond Lane in the village were once considered some of the best grazing land on the East Coast, and the village was the site of huge cattle drives to Montauk, that occurred annually for three centuries.
Well-to-do New York vacationers began to pour in from the nearest rail station six miles away in Bridgehampton. After the railroad was extended to East Hampton in 1895, the gates opened to summer visitors. At the north end of East Hampton is Springs, a hamlet surrounded by Accabonac Harbor, Gardiner's Bay, and Three Mile Harbor. Springs is famous as the home of the painters Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Willem de Kooning, and is now the location of the Krasner-Pollock Museum.
The Village of East Hampton spans a 4.9-mile area, of which 2.9% is water. It has a year-round population of 1,334 and was voted "America's Most Beautiful Village" by National Geographic. Its Main Beach ranks among the top ten beaches in the world.
