Home Sweet Home is a museum named after the famous song of the same name. The song's historic salt-box is located on the East Hampton Village green, which was founded in the 1720s and still retains the charm that once was colonial East Hampton. The Pantigo Mill, which dates to 1804, is located just beyond the museum.
John Howard Payne, an early American playwright and actor, wrote the song, "Home, Sweet Home," in the 19th century, and many have attributed his inspiration for the song to the salt-box. Payne's mother was from East Hampton and his father once taught at the Clinton Academy, which is another historic site just down the block. Payne visited East Hampton as a child.
The Buek family owned the house from 1907 to 1927 before the village purchased it and opened it as a museum in 1928. They had furnished the house with antique period and colonial revival pieces, as well as memorabilia in honor of Payne. The words "Home Sweet Home" are etched on the door- knocker. A bust of Payne is in the museum's entrance.
The front part of the house is set up as if the Bueks were living there in the 1920s. Antiques, china, and lustreware fill the rooms. The gardens -- a parlor window fragrance garden, a 19th-century pleasure garden and an 18th-century herb garden -- contain species, like antique roses, found during that time period.
Hugh King, the village's historic site manager, gives a passionate tour of the museum, and is a wealth of knowledge about East Hampton. Postcards and small souvenirs are available for purchase.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Mulford Farm is considered one of the country's most significant intact English Colonial farmsteads. Named for the family that owned it for most of its existence, the saltbox house was built in 1680 and hasn't been changed much since 1750.
The farm is set up as if it were about 1790. There is a smokehouse and Rachel's Garden, named for Rachel Mulford, who lived there.
The Mulford Barn, also on the property, was built in 1721 and has remained mostly intact. In 1990, the State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation deemed it the second most important 18th-century barn in the state.
The Osborn-Jackson House is a period house museum named for its first and last owners. The oldest portion of the colonial house was built around 1723, and six generations of Osborns lived here until the late 1960s. The furnishings date from about 1780 to 1820.
East Hampton Village has owned and maintained the property since Lionel Jackson donated it in 1977. The East Hampton Historical Society, which oversees five museums, has its headquarters at the Osborn-Jackson House.
Built in 1784, Clinton Academy was one of the first academies chartered by the Board of Regents in New York State. Reverend Samuel Buell of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church asked locals to donate money to construct the late-Georgian building. Co-educational, boys were schooled for careers, while girls were given classes in etiquette and spiritual reading. It was later a community center and a playhouse, held the town offices and even the local newspaper.
The East Hampton Historical Society oversees the historic site, which now hosts exhibitions and lectures. The Mimi Meehan Native Plant Garden, between the Clinton Academy and its neighbor, The East Hampton Star, is open year-round. The Garden Club of East Hampton tends to the small garden.