All hail Queen Martha! The lifestyle doyenne, media mogul, and best-selling author has lived in a beautiful house on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton for 25 years. With her 85th book scheduled for release this fall, Martha Stewart sat with Hamptons magazine to discuss her newly refreshed house, what she loves about Lily Pond Lane, and her favorite shopping destinations in the Hamptons. Want to see the whole thing? Pick up the latest issue of Hamptons.
Martha first saw Lily Pond Lane when she got lost. She says, "I had first come to Lily Pond by mistake, right after I got married in 1961. I had gotten lost. We were staying in Westhampton at my husband's sister's house, and I went for a drive and ended up on this beautiful street with a pond, wonderful hedges, and a perennial garden. And I said to myself, 'Wouldn't it be great to have a house on the street?' When I bought this, it didn't occur to me until later that it was the same place."
Her own house is the oldest on the street. "When I bought it, it was also known as the wreck of Lily Pond Lane. It had about 25 rooms, all tiny. It was built in 1878 by a minister who came to East Hampton in the summers. [He would travel] by train to Bridgehampton and then by horse and buggy from Bridgehampton to here. It appealed to me tremendously because I like the wrecks of the best street."
"This street is the most beautiful street to walk on at 6AM with the dogs—very few cars, a few surfers with their CB radios on to find out where the waves are, but very pleasant. We go to the beach until 8AM. Everybody with a dog is on the beach, and those are the people you want to talk to early in the morning.
"I redid the garden with much more green, more trees. I've started a Japanese maple collection. I love the color of the dark reds and oranges. It seems larger than it is, too—it's an acre. I live on 150 acres in Bedford, and I feel like that's what I wish I had here; if only I had that much land out here, it would be so much fun to have a real farm on the sea."
Her favorite thing about the Hamptons? The nurseries. "I go to Marders, of course. Charlie has been my friend since I came out here 25 years ago. And there are some new garden centers that I love. On the way in from Southampton, there are quite a few along the highway to stop and visit. Wherever you see one it's worth stopping because not everybody has the same stuff."
· How Martha Stewart Spends Her Days in the Hamptons [Hamptons]
· Martha Stewart [Official]
· All posts about Martha Stewart [CH]
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