The 300th anniversary of Miss Amelia’s Cottage, on Main Street in Amagansett, will be celebrated on its grounds on Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. Food, drinks, and music will be offered, and the 1850 Lester Barn will be open.
Built in 1725 for Catherine Schellinger, Miss Amelia’s Cottage is older than America. It was constructed by Jacob Schellinger, according to Hugh King, the historian for both East Hampton Town and Village. The last known occupant was Mary Amelia Schellinger, who was born in the cottage in 1841 and lived there until around a year before her death in 1930. The structure is listed on both the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places.
“It was built about 300 yards west of where it now stands, up on the hill” west of Windmill Lane, Mr. King said. “It got moved to its present location in 1794. We think they moved it to be closer to the rest of the settlement, and it was easier to get water from a well” as its present site is at a lower elevation. “According to research,” he said, “they built a wood-plank road from the original locale to its present spot and towed it downhill with two teams of oxen. That’s how they moved houses, years ago.”
A museum today, Miss Amelia’s Cottage “is laid out and decorated the way the family kept it,” according to the Amagansett Historical Association, which is based at the property, “with many pieces of furniture and clocks made by the Dominy craftsmen of East Hampton. The cottage allows visitors to experience the way people lived in Amagansett from the earliest days into the 1900s.”
The Schellingers were one of the first families in Amagansett. Samuel Schellinger (1765-1848) built the Pantigo, Hayground, Amagansett, and Beebe Windmills, all of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. He also built the Setauket Windmill, which was moved to Amagansett and later destroyed by fire.
The historical association was formed in 1964 to save the site. Robert Moss and Robert Winslow, owners of the Amagansett I.G.A., which at the time was situated at the Main Street building now housing Innersleeve Records, “wanted to buy the land where Miss Amelia’s is and put the I.G.A. there,” Mr. King said. A parking lot was also planned for the site.
Along with Miss Amelia’s Cottage and the Lester Barn, the 1.3-acre site includes the Richard S. Jackson Carriage House and the Phebe Edwards Mulford House, which was built around 1805 on the east side of Atlantic Avenue in the hamlet.
