Sooner or later, the empty cottage that once stood on a sandy coastline was felled when the bay’s frozen temperatures forced the pilings out of the bottomland, taking the cottage with it into the bay’s frigid waters. The cottage once stood high on stilts and since 2024, it had been surrounded by water as the coastal erosion ate the sand it stood on. For many, this represents the ongoing and inevitable erosion of the coastline. The residence behind it has installed large boulders as revetment to help preserve and protect it. Even so, Nature always prevails.
Update: East Hampton Town, along with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), has taken emergency steps to remove a house that collapsed into Gardiner’s Bay Saturday night.
In a statement released Thursday, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said the town had asked the D.E.C. for emergency authorization to begin removing the structure “to prevent debris from becoming a broader hazard to marine traffic, nearby properties, and sensitive natural areas.”
https://www.easthamptonstar.com/government/202625/napeague-stilt-house-surrenders-to-bay