What to see and do outdoors in the Hamptons, New York, all year round including the off seasons. The Hamptons is known as the East End enclave of Long Island where the wealthy, celebrities and New York City’s elite spend the summer months. But it’s also home not just to incredible beaches but also to nature wonders, trails and nature reserves. Discover Hamptons outdoors fun for kids and families.
The Hamptons is composed of villages and hamlets, including Sag Harbor, which are part of the two main towns of East Hampton and Southampton.
Imagine sand like a slow motion tsunami covering whole forests and wetlands. Instead of protecting land, dunes moving inland at about 3 1/2 feet a year. At places reaching 80 feet high. Welcome to The Walking Dunes in Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, NY. Northwest winds for over 100 years or more have been blowing sand from […]
Stretching across the Southfork in the Hamptons is a series of coastal plain ponds, marshes and wetlands known as the Long Pond Greenbelt. My children and I went for a nature adventure following the trails along its northern loop starting in Sag Harbor. Over 600 acres have been protected as this ecosystem, according to the Nature
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Not far from Sammy’s Beach Preserve, I had to stop the car to let wild turkeys cross the road. Soon Sammy’s Beach Road led us to a coastal sand spit which is now a nature preserve. We followed a footpath, overgrown in parts with marsh plants. And wandered near tidal creeks and salt ponds known
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What did my kids need for their adventure as young naturalists? A backpack provided and filled by Hamptons’ own Nature Museum (SOFO) with a pair of binoculars, magnifiers, a compass, sample containers, scavenger hunt cards, sketch pads, bottles of water, a spade and nature guides! And an enthusiastic expert from SOFO – Crystal – to
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We’re going on a salamander hunt. We’re going to catch a Spotted one. We’re going to catch an Eastern Tiger one. What a beautiful night! We’re not scared. During the day trees reflect quietly in this vernal pool in the midst of the woods. In the summer it dries and disappears. But after a winter of
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We went to East Hampton village’s Nature Trail on the official first day of spring. And the swan song of winter. A little sanctuary for wildlife right near Main Street. Once it was a swamp and wetlands. Then in 1901 part of it became a private Japanese water garden. And since 1951 the land deeded
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