The Southampton Cottages of South Main Street: The Original Hamptons Summer Colony

By Sally Spanburgh

In 1887, Southampton was proclaimed "the most charming of all small cities by the sea." From 1870 to 1930, the colonial farmsteads that dotted its oldest street made way for the stately second homes of America's most fashionable elite. Hollywood royalty like Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart lived and played in these magnificent second homes. Situated on the east side of Lake Agawam, South Main Street cottagers fished, bicycled, sailed and walked to the beach and into the village throughout the summer season. Today all but five of these grand landmarks survive. Local author Sally Spanburgh uses her historical and architectural expertise to tell the stories behind the construction of these beautiful homes and their remarkable owners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: May 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781625847775

Sally Spanburgh

Sally Spanburgh lives in Southampton Village and is actively engaged in local historic preservation. She is chairperson of Southampton's Landmarks and Historic Districts Board. Previously, she was employed with architectural firms in New York City and Southampton. She has a master's in architecture from Syracuse University, studied preservation at Columbia Universty, and has a bachelor's of science in environmental design from Syracuse. Her first book, The Southampton Cottages of Gin Lane, was published in 2012.

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1916.

The David H. Hallock Estate

37 AND 37A SOUTH MAIN STREET, 1866 AND CIRCA 1900

In August 1866, Dr. David H. Hallock bought a three-acre parcel on the west side of South Main Street from Southampton locals Henry and Emily C. Reeve for $1,800. At that time, Philetus Pierson, a whaling captain, lived to the south, and other land belonging to the Reeves lay to the north.

Dr. David Horace Hallock (1821–1887) was born in Franklinville, in the town of Southold, on Long Island’s north fork, the place of origin of the Hallock family of Long Island. He studied medicine first at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and then Woodstock, Vermont. He took his first position in Moriches, New York, where he stayed for twelve years before being called to Southampton Village. At the time, Southampton was without a doctor. Upon his relocation to Southampton, he commissioned number 37 for himself and his family and remained in the village until his death thirty-three years later. His grandson by the same name also became a popular local doctor.

The Dr. Hallock residence is a five-bay-wide, two-story structure with a side-facing gable roof accented with decorative brackets along its deep, overhanging eaves and a front, centered, slightly projecting cross gable with a steep pitch. A pair of narrow, round-top windows is centered in the second story of the front cross gable, with a round window above and the main entrance centered below. The home rests on a stone foundation and is now clad with painted asbestos shingles.

Front (west) view of the Dr. and Mrs. David H. Hallock home at 37 South Main Street, 2012.

An aerial view taken about 1900 from the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton nearby survives and depicts the entire Hallock estate from South Main Street to Lake Agawam.

Behind the house was a sizeable barn that still survives as a garage with apartment. Then farther back and on the same property, behind the southern neighbor’s barn, is another house near Lake Agawam. This is what is now referred to as the Doscher house.

In 1887, Dr. Hallock’s health began to deteriorate, leading to his death the same year. He was such a dedicated physician, it was said, that he tended to his patients as long as he could, only retiring near death. Dr. Hugh Halsey (1863–1940), of East Hampton, assumed his role in Southampton Village at Dr. Hallock’s request. Before Dr. Hallock died, Dr. Halsey stayed at Frank Cook’s house, at 161 South Main Street.

Dr. Hallock’s funeral service, held at the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton, was said to have been the largest attended funeral ever known in the history of [the] village, the deceased being one of [its] best known and highly esteemed citizens…In every movement for the welfare of the village he took a prominent and active part.⁷

An aerial view of the northeast end of Lake Agawam, taken from the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton, showing the full Hallock estate as well as the general context, about 1900. Courtesy of the Southampton Historical