A Family Takes A Look At Their Ancestors’ Former Estate In Westhampton Beach

During the 1938 hurricane, the main house flooded at the sprawling Atwater estate on the Aspatuck River, known as Brightwater and designed in 1903 by the architect Henry Bacon. Members of the Atwater family—including the patriarch and coal merchant William Cutler Atwater Jr. and his three children—William III, Priscilla and Doris—piled friends and neighbors into Little Brightwater, their guest cottage, and hunkered down for rest of the storm.

The family survived the hurricane, and they stayed on at their mansion at 66 Seafield Lane in Westhampton Beach for the next decade, then sold the estate in the late 1940s. After William Atwater Jr. died, his children scattered around the United States, and William Atwater III and Priscilla Atwater Marsh died before they were able to return to their childhood home.

Last month, 60 years later, Doris Atwater Bouwensch returned to Brightwater with the remaining descendants of William Atwater Jr. to see the family’s former estate before it changes hands again.

The family, most of whom live outside New York State, were visiting Brooklyn last month to lay Priscilla Atwater Marsh to rest at a family grave site in the historic Green-Wood Cemetery. Her son, David Marsh, said he would have liked to take his mother to “the cold house” one more time.

“She always called it the cold house because back then, there were only fireplaces,” he said during their visit to Brightwater last month.

Mr. Marsh and his sister, Anne Egbert, have a slew of photo albums and a family tree that traces the Atwaters back to England in the 1600s.

Mr. Marsh said his mother had curated the family history until her death in October. Now it will be up to Mr. Marsh and his sister, Ms. Egbert, to continue that tradition.

“We moved a lot growing up,” Ms. Egbert, who now lives in the Midwest, explained. “It’s nice to be able to come to a place that was solid and where our family really began.”

Early in November, Mr. Marsh had written to Douglas Elliman Real Estate, with which Brightwater is listed for sale, and asked if it would be possible to visit the “cold house” while in the area for his mother’s funeral. He explained that it would most likely be the last time Doris Atwater Bouwensch would be able to visit and recount stories about her time at the house, and that he would also like his daughter to be able to see the estate.

And so the group took a tour of Brightwater, eyes gleaming at the history inside the walls of the 16,000-square-foot house, and talked about the family traditions that have been passed down through the years.

Sailing, for one, has been an Atwater family tradition since William Atwater Jr. hosted races on the Aspatuck River in his former backyard, which leads to Quantuck Bay.

“Our grandfather was famous in the family, but we didn’t know much about the area,” Ms. Egbert said. “It’s amazing to see where he taught our mother how to sail.”

The two siblings have large albums of photos showing what the estate used to look like, but they do not know much about their mother’s time at Brightwater, where she spent the first 10 years of her life. Her children said she would tell stories of “the cold house” only when prodded— she did not like to discuss the hurricane because friends and neighbors had drowned in the storm. Mr. Marsh said his mother was on the beach the day it hit and considered herself lucky to have made it to Little Brightwater in time.

Mr. Marsh and Ms. Egbert also know that one of their grandfather’s chauffeurs taught their mother how to drive at a young age, noting that their grandfather was partial to the Pierce Arrow motor car.

While touring Brightwater, the family immediately noticed that the boathouse and some guest cottages were in different places that what they’d seen in their photos. The current owner, Len Conway, was on hand and able to fill in some gaps.

Mr. Conway explained that when the Atwaters sold Brightwater for $44,000 to the O’Brian family in the late 1940s, the new owners took down two greenhouses and replaced them with a cottage at the end of the property, then moved the boathouse back to make way for a swimming pool.

The O’Brians were also sailors, and they hosted yacht races on the bay, Mr. Conway said.

Mr. Conway’s family bought the property in 1994, renovating the kitchen and updating heating in what the Atwaters had known as “the cold house.” The Conways moved from down the street at 57 Seafield Lane and have been living at Brightwater ever since.

They are listing the property for $17.75 million.