Hampton Waters Property Owners Association, Inc. (HWPOA)
Hampton Waters is an idyllic community of modest to grand homes set on the shores of beautiful Three Mile Harbor. Hampton Waters offers residents spectacular views with over a mile and a half of continuous waterfront facing the harbor and running through picturesque inlets. At the end of Island Road, there is a common green with a path leading to an association beach, and a narrow island that connects to the beach at low tide separating the deep water boat channel from the bay. On the opposite side of the green, a path leads to a bulk head/dock where association members can tie up a small boat. Those properties as well as a 25 foot wide reserve with a walkway that leads to the water at the end of Oyster Pond Road are commonly owned amenities for residents.
Hampton Waters was initially developed in the late 1950s and early 60s by Barney Rosset, the owner of Grove Press and one of the most influential publishers in America. Rosset bought four barns, moved them to Hampton Waters and had well-known architect, Robert Rosenberg convert them into houses. The first house on the corner of Springy Banks and Oyster Shores was made into a sales office as well as a “Meeting House” to be used for the performing arts. The development was laid out by architects Rosenberg and McVitty. The houses by John McVitty, were modern. Originally founded as a retreat for artists and writers, Hampton Waters was divided into mostly half acre lots (for a $500 downpayment each!). A 3/4 acre lot in 1962 was $3,000, waterfront properties were slightly more. A proposed marina created expensive dredging expenses and was relocated to where the bulkhead / dock is now. Rosset was financially strapped, and subsequently sold the property to the successful Long Island builder, J. Alwin Froehlich. Hampton Waters was his first east end development when Three Mile Harbor was in its infancy. The resulting community was a sell out with 8,000 feet of waterfront property .
HWPOA, Inc. was incorporated on Dec. 3, 1965 as a Domestic Non-for-Profit Corporation in the State of New York. and filed on record with the NYS Dept. of State on January 31, 1966. Legally, it is an incorporated Home Owners Association (HOA) consisting of about 220 members that own properties in one of the three sections of Hampton Waters.
What began as a community of modest summer second homes and converted barns, has evolved and developed over the last half century into a much prized community. It has always been a mix of summer residents and year rounders, city people and locals, artists and writers, doctors and lawyers, carpenters and fisherman and a fair share of famous people. It’s a community a US Attorney General, a Pulitzer Prize winner, a town supervisor, a talk show host and a few movie stars have called home. It’s a neighborhood where young families bring up children and successful people move to retire.