Apparently, even musical legends can’t win against Nature. Longtime Montauk resident Paul Simon was faced with dropping off the key, Lee, to one of the buildings on his estate in the Montauk bluffs after erosion threatened to knock it over the precipice.
His estate on Cliff Drive is about 7.5 acres and includes the main house and outbuildings such as the one-story cottage. The cottage, built in 1950, was originally set farther back, but over the years, the land eroded (at a rate of about six inches per year) so that the cottage was only about 20 feet from the edge. According to Newsday, “A neighboring pond visible in aerial photos from 1962 has disappeared.”
In February, work began to move the building back about 80 feet. To help stabilize the precipice, a 50 foot buffer of native vegetation will be planted in the area.
