Shame On Us - 27 East

Letters

Southampton Press / Opinion / Letters / 2007682

Shame On Us

What a terrible shock! The beautiful house on the corner of Ocean Road and Paul’s Lane in Bridgehampton is gone. Nothing remains of the 18th century home but a chimney standing among the debris.

How was this beautiful old house not protected? Do we just resign ourselves that our once pristine rural area is the new Levittown peppered with ubiquitous Michael Davis and Farrell houses? Well, those houses are a dime a dozen.

In allowing unique, irreplaceable antique houses to be destroyed, we lose the very symbols of our past, our history — forever.

Shame on us, all of us. I suppose the folks that built this homestead on Paul’s Lane with their own hands nearly 300 years ago must be shedding tears in heaven. And they are right to do so.

We need better and stronger laws to protect the little that is left. And quickly, before there’s nothing left to protect.

Anna Klebnikov

Sagaponack