IT'S A LOVE STORY

In search of an “old-fashioned summer,” one couple found their answer on New York's Shelter Island, where they reimagined a shingled beach house as their permanent retreat

- BY PAIGE PORTER FISCHER

"Nothing says relax like a pool in the front yard," says owner Eric Ryan. "The house has two climates-one in the front, and one in the back. The front yard, where the pool is, stays much warmer, while the back gets the breezes from the bay and can be 10 degrees cooler." The woven pool lounge chairs, by Serena & Lily, are often occupied all summer.

Eric and Jill Ryan never complain about the 3,000-mile commute to their summer “office.” The couple, who live in Marin County, California, during the school year, pack up their family and dog every summer and head cross country to Shelter Island, New York, for their long exhale. “There is no feeling quite like the moment we step off the ferry and realize our world just got so much smaller, that its spinning just got so much slower,” says Eric. “We all count down the days to summertime at Salt House.”

“Salt House” is the name Eric and Jill gave their beloved beach house—a classic New England shingled cottage that demanded a double take when they first caught a glimpse of it from Noyac Bay. “Eric loves water toys, and he got a boat before we got the house,” says Jill, who grew up on the North Fork of Long Island and considers this coastline her backyard. “Eric was looking for a dock for the boat when he found this house. He pointed to it and said to me, ‘That’s it. That’s the one.’ He loved everything about it, even the lights on the dock.”