Photographer unknown
c.1885
Originally built in 1747, Third House was replaced in 1806. It was built as a shelter for those who went on Montauk in the summers to watch the cattle. It was expanded in 1879 after Arthur Benson's purchase of much of Montauk. Visitors stayed there during the 1870s and 80s, including members of the Tile Club artists in 1878. Though Montauk had very little standing timber by that time, loads of wood washed ashore from shipwrecks kept the Third House fireplaces blazing. In 1898, some officers on Col. Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders slept there.