Events

Paumanok Path 25th Anniversary Huge Success!

The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society (“EHTPS”) led a series of hikes October and November 2023 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the completion and opening of the section of the Paumanok Path in East Hampton Town. Co-sponsoring organizations included the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference, Third House Nature Center, Inc., Group for the East End, Inc., Peconic Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and Seatuck Environmental Association. The Paumanok Path is Long Island’s premier hiking trail. It runs for 125 miles through the Towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southampton, and East Hampton to its terminus at Montauk Point. The section of the Paumanok Path in East Hampton Town is about 45 miles long and was officially opened in 1998, in coordination with East Hampton’s 350th anniversary celebration.

In East Hampton, the Paumanok Path runs through many of the Town’s major parks and preserves, while exposing hikers to some of the most noteworthy natural features the Town has to offer. The trail traverses Northwest Woods, the Stony Hill area of Amagansett, Napeague, Hither Hills and Hither Woods, the moorlands of Indian Field County Park, and finally the Point Woods and the coastal area of Montauk near the Montauk Point Lighthouse. A sampling of the features to be seen from the Paumanok Path includes the White Pine Forest in Northwest Woods, the EHTPS-built Tanbark Creek Bridge, the beech hills and hollows of Stony Hill, the bayfront coast of Hither Woods, and such historic buildings as Second House, Third House, and the Montauk Point Lighthouse.

Many of the leaders of the 25th Anniversary hikes were personally involved in the creation of the Paumanok Path in East Hampton or the preservation of the land through which the Path runs. The Paumanok Path in East Hampton Town passes through State, County, and Town parkland. It also travels through land owned and preserved by the Peconic Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy.

On November 18, the Paumanok Path 25th anniversary celebration concluded with a ceremony and speakers at Montauk Point. The final ceremony commemorated the Paumanok Path itself, but also individuals who have preserved open space and natural lands in East Hampton in the past half-century. For without the preservation of our natural and historic landscape, the Paumanok Path would not have been possible. The following proclamations from Governor Kathy Hochul, Legistlator Bridget Fleming, and Assemblyman Fred Thiele were proudly presented.