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SITUATED BETWEEN LONG Island’s North and South Forks, Shelter Island is a particularly distinct kind of island getaway. About three hours from Manhattan and reachable via a short car ferry from either Greenport or North Haven, the 8,000-acre isle is bordered by the Peconic River to the west and Gardiners Bay to the east. As beach escapes go, it’s less fussy than the Hamptons and more laid back than the North Fork. The narrow shoreline is strewn with rocks and shells, while the interior is all woodsy marshlands, with brackish and freshwater ponds. Life here proceeds at a hypnotically slow place; cyclists braking for a family of wild turkeys could pass for a traffic jam.
The traditional home of the Manhanset people, Shelter Island was appropriated by King James I of England and was part of his original grant to the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Once colonized, the land passed through several more hands, acquiring the name Shelter Island around 1652. By the early 1900s, several millionaires had built houses there; more summer homes and cottages cropped up after World War II. In the 2020 census, the island reported roughly 1,600 full-time residents, though that number swells in the summer, as demonstrated by the weekenders crowding André Balazs’s chic Sunset Beach hotel and two historic island inns that have recently been modernized.
While fishing and farming were the dominant industries years ago, today’s residents are more likely to be hotel workers, interior designers or restaurateurs. An increasing number of artists are opening studios as well, says the abstract artist Margaret Garrett, 57, who has kept a studio and residency on Shelter Island for 25 years and curated the summer exhibition “Once on This Island” at the Shelter Island Historical Society. The show features the work of Willem de Kooning, Jules Feiffer, Janet Culbertson and other creatives who have sought inspiration here over the years.
Despite a flood of pandemic newcomers, the coastal calm of the island remains largely unspoiled; just head to the secluded beach at Crab Creek or the miles of vivid green trail in Mashomack Preserve to see for yourself. (A new mobile payment…
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