John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were famous New York City figures; however, they didn’t spend all of their time in the big city.
“Like many fixtures of the Manhattan social scene, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette escaped the city’s sweltering summers in favor of the Hamptons. Kennedy rented a house in Sagaponack with his cousin, Anthony Radziwill, and his wife, [‘The Real Housewives of New York City’ alum] Carole Radziwill, in the mid-1990s,” according to Elle Decor. “Their village of choice? Sagaponack, a seaside hamlet in the town of Southampton.”
Carole wrote about the summer home in her 2005 memoir, “What Remains.” Elle Decor notes that “[a] short walk to Sagg Main Beach, the Long Island retreat is where Carole first met both Kennedy and Bessette, who would go on to become her close friends. In her memoir, she looked back fondly on their shared vacation home, dubbed ‘Sea Song.'”
Sea Song Offers ‘Perks’ and ‘Privacy’
“Sea Song is modest by Hamptons standards—three small bedrooms separated by an open kitchen and living area, furnished with Pottery Barn tables and white slipcovered couches,” Carole wrote in her memoir. Elle Decor adds that “[t]he single-story home, built in 1965, has a compact footprint of just 1,800 square feet. Its interiors feature touches like hardwood floors, beamed ceilings, and a brick fireplace.”
Beyond that, Elle Decor notes that the home’s “perks” include “a sprawling rear garden with a heated gunite pool and multiple outdoor entertaining areas.” That’s not to mention, and “[p]erhaps best of all, the estate offers a sense of privacy and seclusion.”
“I remember our favorite feature was the outdoor shower on the side of the house,” Carole told the Wall Street Journal in 2016, when the home hit the market. “It was completely open and overlooked a field to the front and [was] obscured by trees to the right and the left.”
The Home Went Up for Sale in 2016 for $5.75 Million
CanvaBack in 1977, Yvonne Dunleavy — the writer of 1971’s “The Happy Hooker” — purchased Sea Song for $140,000, according to the Wall Street Journal. She eventually put the Hampton’s home on the market in 2016 for $5.75 million.
Elle Decor notes that in 2021, the property went up for rent once again when the current owner asked $50,000 a month to live in the abode that JFK Jr. once called his summer home.
