Bayberry Land - Southampton

 Bayberry Land in Southampton was owned by Charles Hamilton and Pauline Sabin. It was designed by Cross & Cross in conjunction with the landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin. Sabin was at one time president and later chairman of the Guaranty Trust Company.

The 314-acre country estate eventually included eight buildings: the manor house, the main garage with chauffeur’s apartment, a gate house, the caretaker’s cottage, a greenhouse, the hunting lodge, a stable, and a two-car garage with pump house. Cross & Cross designed the buildings in a style meant to emulate an English country manor. The interior of the Manor House included 28 rooms, 11 baths, and 11 bedrooms. The house was completed in 1919, and to celebrate, the Sabins held a housewarming dinner and dance.

Mr. Sabin had a private drive connecting the Manor with the National Golf Links. Other sports included hunting, polo, and walking over Bayberry Land’s extensive grounds. Closer to the Manor, the great lawn itself provided level ground for croquet, and there were tennis courts on its eastern edge. Marian Cruger Coffin Coffin surrounded the Manor with a great lawn and four distinct gardens: the Italianate garden, the rose garden, the tritoma walk, and the sundial garden. On the bay side of the house, Coffin laid out the great lawn enclosed by waist-high walls. The great lawn provided an unbroken line of sight to the bay from within the house.  Coffin designed a “wild” seaside garden to the east of the great lawn.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No.3 purchased Bayberry Land in 1949 to serve as a convalescent home for electrical workers. Motivated by the growing emphasis on education in the American labor movement, the IBEW added an Educational Center for workers in 1957 and a summer camp for children in 1971. Between 1969 and 1994, the Union built numerous buildings on the estate, including five buildings containing 65 motel-style rooms, an administrative building, a camp latrine, a camp kitchen, an arts and crafts building, three swimming pools (with decks, patios and storage structures), numerous camp dwellings, a camp administration building and infirmary, a basketball court, an archery range, two tennis courts, a volleyball court, a large group picnic area, two changing rooms, and an outdoor shower.

In 2001, the IBEW sold Bayberry Land to Michael C. Pascucci of Sebonac Neck Holdings, LLC, to be developed into an 18-hole golf course. Pascucci engaged Hall of Fame golfer and noted designer Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, one of the most sought-after young architects in the world, to collaborate on the project. The course opened in 2006.

 

Sources:

“Bayberry Land.” Southampton Government, www.southamptontownny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1213/Bayberry-Land-Brochure-PDF. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025

L., Zach. “Bayberry Land.” Old Long Island, www.oldlongisland.com/2010/04/bayberry-land.html. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025