If you happened to be one of the moneyed New Yorkers around the turn of the 20th century then you might have journeyed east to play tennis and relax by the ocean at the Maidstone Club. Back then the club did not really feature golf but that has changed and the club now hosts one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world. The Maidstone is a very private club; so private that the website is inaccessible unless you have a membership and a password.
Stories about the exclusivity of the club are notorious. Hamptons.com told a story about Groucho Marx playing at the golf club as a guest in the 1950s and inquiring about a membership afterward.
“His friend explained that Marx wouldn't be allowed to join because he was Jewish,” the website reported. “Groucho pondered that for a moment, then said, ‘My kids are only half-Jewish - can they at least play the first nine?’”
Interesting fact: The Maidstone Club took its name from the original name for East Hampton, which is what the settlers called it in the 1600s after their hometown in Kent, England from where they came.
Enjoy these old pictures of The Maidstone Club that we dug up out of the East Hampton Library collection.
Maidstone Club, East Hampton, L.I. postcard image
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Maidstone Club, East Hampton, L.I. postcard image
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Postcard image showing swimming pool and cabanas at the Maidstone Club, in East Hampton, Long Island.
Tug of War at Bathing Beach
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Men engaging in a game of Tug of War on the beach at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York.
Maidstone Club "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", c1885
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Group pictured beneath trees in East Hampton, New York. Front row: Paul Moran, Miss Margery Spring, Mrs. Ives, "Willie" Draper.
Maidstone Club "Boarders" with J.D. Skidmore, 1884
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Group sitting on Maidstone porch, in East Hampton, New York, with John D. Skidmore, top left, 1884.
Maidstone Club, c1885
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
People on the tennis green at the Maidstone Club, in East Hampton, New York, c1885.
Maidstone Club Bathers, c1885
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
People bathing at the Maidstone Club beach, Dr. Everett Herrick in center.
Maidstone Club after the Fire, August 9, 1901
Photo: For educational use only. The East Hampton Library, Long Island Collection. For any other use, please contact The Long Island Collection, East Hampton Library, 159 Main St., East Hampton, NY 11937. 631-324-0222 x 4 or email lic@easthamptonlibrary.org.
Maidstone Club after the fire. Chimneys of first clubhouse remain standing.
