Country United States County Suffolk FIPS code 36-77805 Elevation 7 m Population 650 (2010) Town East Hampton | State New York Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) GNIS feature ID 0968642 Zip code 11975 Area code 631 | |
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Area 18.65 km² (17.35 km² Land / 129 ha Water) | ||
Wainscott is a census-designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP population was 650. The CDP was created for the 2000 census.
Contents
Map of Wainscott, NY, USA
Background and history
Wainscott was home to the last public one-room schoolhouse operating in New York until an annex was built in 2008.
The hamlet was named after Wainscott, Kent, a village north of Maidstone, England, an area immortalized in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and from which most of the early settlers of East Hampton came.
Facing the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Wainscott has some of the most expensive property in the world. On its west is the village of Sagaponack, and on the east is the village of East Hampton. Other communities that border Wainscott are the CDPs of East Hampton North and Northwest Harbor to the northeast, the village of Sag Harbor to the north, and the CDPs of Noyack and Bridgehampton to the west (north of Sagaponack).
The east side of Wainscott faces Georgica Pond. The exclusive Georgica Association has a 100-acre (0.40 km2) subdivision on the west side of the pond. The Association's most famous house, called the "Michael Kennedy house" (a lawyer who represented such diverse clients as the Black Panthers and Ivana Trump), was the beach house featured in the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
The PBS children's show It's a Big Big World is taped in the industrial park at the East Hampton Airport which is in Wainscott.
The Wainscott railroad station on the Montauk Branch closed in the 1930s.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.2 square miles (18.7 km2), of which 6.7 square miles (17.4 km2) is land and 0.50 square miles (1.3 km2), or 6.87%, is water.
It is interesting that Wainscott -- such a small town -- should present a different landscape than East Hampton or Amagansett. The town is flat: houses border on potato or corn fields that then border on the dune and the ocean. Main Street used to have a General Store and a Post Office; before 1935 it was lined with sycamores, but the hurricane took them all down. (The day after the hurricane it was posted that free firewood could be had on Main Street, if you were willing to chop it.)
Demographics of the CDP
All demographic figures refer to permanent inhabitants of the CDP, not second-home owners or other visitors.
As of the census of 2010, there were 650 people, 264 households, and 148 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 97.0 per square mile (37.4/km²). There were 876 housing units at an average density of 130.7/sq mi (50.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 93.1% White, 2.3% African American, 1.7% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.9% some other race, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.3% of the population.
There were 264 households out of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were headed by married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.9% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30, and the average family size was 2.91.
In the CDP, the population was spread out with 21.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 20.0% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.1 years. For every 100 females there were 115.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.6 males.
For the period 2007-2011, the estimated median annual income for a household in the CDP was $82,083, and the median income for a family was $79,375. Males had a median income of $64,688 versus $79,167 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $51,876. About 2.0% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.