This 1997 photograph from the Springs Historical Society shows the exterior of the John Edwards House on Duck Creek Farm off Three Mile Harbor Road. The two-story “half house” is believed to have been built by John Edwards (1750-1806) after he bought the property from John and Mary Gardiner in 1795.
Originally the farm took up the land of present-day Gann Road down toward the end of Breeze Hill Road. The inlet south of the farmhouse is called Duck Creek. Maidstone Harbor Marina was later built there.
The East Hampton Star reported on June 29, 1900, that Samuel Hicks Edwards (1827-1902) of Duck Creek Farm lost his cow enclosure to a fire. The blaze consumed the contents of the structure, including 250 bushels of corn, livestock harnesses, and farm tools.
After Samuel Edwards died, the farm ceased to operate and his heirs subdivided the property, selling off land for residential development, although some of the farm remained in the Edwards family until 1920. A family cemetery on the property was relocated to Cedar Lawn Cemetery.
The Edwards house wasn’t maintained for a number of years, and then was severely damaged in the 1938 Hurricane and left abandoned. In 1948, the artist John Little (1907-1984) bought the remaining property, including the abandoned farmhouse, and started renovations. He moved a barn built by David Johnson Gardiner from 48 James Lane, converting it to his studio. The Little family remained there until 2003, when John Little’s daughters sold the property to the fashion designer Helmut Lang.
In 2005, the Town of East Hampton used the community preservation fund to buy the property, including the farmhouse and barn. Today it’s home to the Arts Center at Duck Creek.
Mayra Scanlon is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
