Towd Point has a rich history; from the settlers' first landfall in North Sea Harbor at Conscience Point; to the home of the Conscience Point Shellfish project; to pop news of celebrity inhabitants (rumor has it that Marilyn Monroe spent part of a summer on Towd Point and more recently the Kardashians and Rihanna). The natural beauty, the wild life, beautiful beach and natural preserves draw people near and far.
"Towd" is a local Native American word for "wading water" or "wading place". Towd Point Cottages were predominately "fishing shacks" and began as a summer community for the the trades people and their families (both local and from the city) who serviced the local estates. Roy M started coming to Towd Point when he was 2 years old in the late 1930s. In the 1970s, he bought 4 of them (one property) . One year later, he sub-divided and sold the one closest to the bridge for almost the same price that he bought all 4 of them for. Roy's stories of the Towd Point of his youth, filled many of our afternoons, as well as his lamenting of all the properties that he did not buy (but had been owned by one family member or another). Roy lived in the larger of the three cottages and owned them until 2007 when Diane Naiztat and Alex Ham took them over and dubbed the one that Roy lived in "Roy's Cottage" and put Naiztat + Ham Architect's (NHA) Southampton office in another one of the cottages.
Roy's cottage was in bad shape when Diane and Alex decided to renovate it in 2009. Carpet was used as insulation under the wood floor and was found to be a sheet of mold when the floor was removed. The house was cluttered, there were structural issues, water leaks and aesthetic compromises (from inside there was barely a view out).
Existing - "Roy's Cottage" before 2009
Leaving the existing footprint, NHA modified the house to accentuate it's indoor to outdoor relationship, as well as modernize it without taking away the cottage charm. When Roy came to stay, he said, "If I understood what I could have done, I would have never left!"
Looking towards front door
Looking from front door to Davis Creek
Front and Back Views
Day and Evening views