Long Island’s North Fork unfolds 30 miles east from Riverhead, with each hamlet signposted on its two thoroughfares, Route 48 and 25. Travelers don’t get much more than a glimpse as they pass by: an unassuming shopping street, a garden center , a white church with a spire, a red brick schoolhouse, a fire station.
In between there are vineyards, sod farms, farm stalls, marinas. It takes some exploration to discover the appeal, scenery and character of each place.
Cutchogue, a hamlet of about 10 square miles in the town of Southold, with a population of about 3,200, is perhaps the most emblematic of the property-feeding frenzy of the past decade, which has only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The draw: walkable beaches; rolling farmland; waterfront homes on Peconic Bay, Long Island Sound, and many creeks and inlets; quiet restaurants and shops that offer locally harvested food; good schools; and a retirement community.
But buying a home on the North Fork has never been easier. “There are 70 homes on the market from Laurel to Orient,” said Thomas McCloskey, an agent at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “Five years ago there were 300. We have 10 to 12 percent of the stock that we had 10 or 11 years ago.”
Cutchogue’s relative proximity to New York City—depending on traffic, the drive can take less than two hours—has attracted buyers looking for a weekend home. Affordable housing – there isn’t much, and plans to build more are in conflict – and land conservation are the topics that most often make headlines in the local newspaper, The Suffolk Times. The lack of cheaper housing has resulted in the most recent generations of longtime residents of Cutchogue being priced out. Nancy Cervelli, a real estate agent at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, was recently involved in the sale of a small two-bedroom house that was marketed for $525,000. Within a week, she received five offers.
Demand has increased, Mr McCloskey said, as people are beginning to see the North Fork as a cheaper alternative to the Hamptons, on the South Fork. But, he added, Cutchogue has more high-end, expensive real estate than other hamlets: “There’s a million-dollar bounty to walk to a real sandy beach.”
Lisa Gillooly, a real estate agent at Compass, helped Steve and Danielle Porto find the vacation home they bought last summer on Nassau Point, which has some of the most dramatic water views on the North Fork.
The Portos, both 37, grew up in the Long Island town of Huntington and now live in Garden City. They have three young children and large families on both sides. Mr. Porto is a renewable energy investor; Ms. Porto is a psychotherapist. After a few summer rentals on the North Fork, they were looking for a year-round house where their families could gather and where there would be “free space for the kids to explore the great outdoors and run around with their cousins.” said Mrs. Porto. After a long search, they closed a $3.5 million house with a five-bedroom, five-bathroom, pool, and stunning view of Peconic Bay.
Joey Clark, 35, and her husband, Brian, 39, were among the crowd seeking more space when Covid struck. Working from home in their West Village apartment, she said, “it felt like the walls were closing in.” They searched for a year and a half (and bid on another property) before purchasing a four-bedroom colonial house on a quiet Cutchogue road between two vineyards—the first home they owned. The sale price was $1,275 million.
“It’s on a quiet road,” Mrs. Clark said. “We have two dogs and it will be great for them to be able to run around.”
What you will find
Aside from the large and more modest beach houses on Nassau Point – a mix of modern and traditional architecture – Cutchogue has ranches, ranches and cottages.
Additionally, Harvest Pointe, a condominium project for the over-55s, began building and selling two- and three-bedroom units in 2018. All but six have been sold, including the models.
Connie and Vincent Monteforte entered the complex after living in Southold for 20 years. “It’s a young, active senior citizen group,” said Ms. Monteforte, praising amenities such as a swimming pool, clubhouse and the inevitable pickleball courts. “I feel like I’m living in a dorm without the exams.”
They aren’t the only residents of North Fork to move into the development after downsizing. “We used to lose our customers as they got older,” says Mariella O. Ostroski, the local history librarian at the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library, which is part of a complex of historic buildings on Route 25. Now she has said: “ they’re moving to Harvest Pointe and we’re still seeing them, it’s been good for that continuity.”
What do you pay?
Between May 1, 2021 and the end of April 2022, 56 homes were sold in Cutchogue; prices ranged from $439,000 to $3.5 million, with a median retail price of $767,000.
During the first week of May, a search of Zillow turned up 15 properties, including five in Harvest Pointe. One, a church complex with a six-bedroom house, was listed for $3.6 million. The others ranged from a three-bedroom ranch house surrounded by farmland, costing $799.999, to a three-bedroom creek house with a boat dock, valued at $1,995 million.
Summer rentals can be found for $15,000 to $25,000 a month, although homes on Nassau Point already cost $40,000 to $55,000 a month.
“We are coming from accelerated rents during Covid,” said Ms Gillooly. “People paid top dollars and extended for a long season and sometimes a whole year.”
This year, as the pandemic began to ease, she added, “the rental market is no longer comparable to last year. There are quite a few things that have not yet been rented out.”
the atmosphere
Agriculture and fishing are Cutchogue’s lifeblood, and locally sourced food is a major draw for newcomers and long-time residents alike. Braun Seafood Company recently reopened its restaurant, with a new chef and picnic tables under a tent. At 8 Hands Farm, in an airy barn, customers can purchase meat, bread, soft custard and yarn made from the wool of sheep grazing in the fields beyond. During the summer, Friday is Burger Night at McCall Wines, one of several scenic wineries with tasting rooms. Wickham’s Fruit Farm has a popular farm stall, home-picked options, a 1902 cider mill and a family history dating back to the 17th century. The donuts are standout features.
Sugar sands beaches in Cutchogue, near Peconic and tiny New Suffolk, as well as off the causeway to Nassau Point, overlook Peconic Bay to the South Fork. On the north side, Oregon Road, which passes through vineyards and farmland, is a favorite of cyclists. The 51-acre Downs Farm Preserve, which includes Fort Corchaug, a 17th-century Native American settlement, is a National Historic Landmark. Gardeners pull painted wagons through a maze of annual and perennial aisles in Trimble’s Nursery. The hamlet also has a King Kullen supermarket and a Christmas tree farm.
Jessica Kelleher, 39, yoga teacher and food prep chef, grew up in Cutchogue. After living in Westchester, she moved back to raise her three sons in a house on land her parents bought in the 1970s. “It’s less important here,” she said. “The big events are the Strawberry Festival and the Fire Brigade BBQ.”
Ursula XVII (pronounced Disset), who has worked as a pastry chef at renowned restaurants in New York, Europe and on the North Fork, calls Cutchogue “a chef’s dream.” She recently opened Atelier Disset, a small chocolate shop in Cutchogue, just down the street from the vintage Cutchogue Diner, a local landmark, and makes her high-end chocolates a few miles away, in a small factory complex she shares with North Fork Potato Chips. .
The schools
Cutchogue East Elementary School has 480 students from Kindergarten through sixth grade. Enrollment at Mattituck Junior-Senior High School, which serves seventh through 12th grade, is 580. In 2021, the graduation rate was 91.5 percent, and mean SAT scores were 559 for literacy and 601 for math, compared to the national averages of 526 and 531.
The Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District also has a kindergarten program and plans to have a class of approximately 27 students in the fall of 2022; students are chosen through a lottery.
the commute
Cutchogue is about 90 miles from Midtown Manhattan, about two hours or more by car, depending on traffic. The Hampton Jitney stops there several times a day; tickets are $29 one way, prepaid, or $36 on board.
The Long Island Rail Road stops three or four times a day in Mattituck and Southold, either side of Cutchogue; the drive to Manhattan takes about two and a half hours and costs $22.25 one way off-peak, or $30.50 during peak times.
The history
During the Civil War, the congregation of the Venerable Cutchogue Presbyterian Church was divided over slavery, said Ms. Ostroski, the local history librarian. A group of abolitionists left and became the Independent Congregational Church and Society; in 1862 they built their own church. After the war, the group returned to the Presbyterian Church. That 1862 structure is now part of the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library.
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