Our Hamptons

Esperanza and Irwin travel to Shelter Island for their 117th podcast. Sylvester Manor is a remarkable place where layers of East End history converge. Built in the 17th century by Nathaniel Sylvester, a wealthy merchant and slaveholder, the manor was home to Indigenous people, enslaved Africans, and European settlers. Today, its landscape, buildings, and gardens offer a window into a complicated past—and a story of how that history is being preserved, interpreted, and re-imagined. Listening is Believing.

Esperanza and Irwin talk "Yaz". Before Fenway Park and winning the Triple Crown, Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski forged his Hall of Fame work ethic on the potato farms and sandlot diamonds of Long Island's East End. This episode explores Yaz’s formative Bridgehampton years, from laboring on his family's farm to dominating local athletics at Bridgehampton High, where he batted an astonishing 512, starred in three varsity sports, and broke county basketball records. We dive into the local folklore of his legendary 1957 season and look at how playing for the White Eagles semipro team alongside his father shaped his career. Perhaps most of all, It is the story a time and place: late 1950's Bridgehampton, and the tight-knit Polish-American farming community that worked the land and nurtured a legend, straight into Cooperstown. Listening is Believing.

Esperanza and Irwin kick off Season 9! We often talk of the east end, in terms of the families here for generations. And when a lifelong resident has lived on a street named for the family...well, that takes on a whole other level. And Sue McGuirk, who spent many of her formative years on McGuirk Street, reminisces about growing up in the East Hampton of 60 and 70 years ago. With family working on dairy farms, long lost businesses, and surrounded by cousins, aunts and uncles in a different East Hampton.

Join Esperanza and Irwin for a journey into the rich, 300-year history of North Haven, with gratitude to the book by Don Taylor for providing much of the content. We'll explore the peninsula's transformation—from early 17th-century native lands to a vibrant retreat for whaling captains, the dramatic Fahys estate colony, the theatrical Actor's Colony, and present-day, including its incorporation as a village in 1931 to maintain its rural and residential appeal. Listening is Believing.

Esperanza and Irwin welcome four members of the Ladies Village Improvement Society: LVIS President Joyce Tuttle, and members Leslie Clarke, Cass Lovett and Ann Gegelys. Together, we discuss how this historic, volunteer driven organization- it dates back to 1895, continues to shape the character of East Hampton and remains so relevant to who we are as a community. Listening is Believing.