Stone Harbor

With some of the most beautiful beaches on the East Coast, Stone Harbor also has some
of the most beautiful homes and some of the nation’s highest real estate prices. Median
home price in this exclusive community are just above $1 million, with more than 50
percent of homes commanding prices of more than $900K. Indeed, the community has
been described by the New York Times as a land of “gleaming McMansions and elegant
shops” with an average single­-family home on the market at the time when that article
was written in 2008 priced at $2.5 million. Forbes Magazine has ranked the town as one
of its 50 most expensive zip codes, and Worth magazine ranked it as one of America’s
richest towns. Part of the town’s allure is its exceptional beach, impeccably maintained
with specific areas set aside for sailing, surfing, kayaking and swimming. The community
is also a shopper’s delight with its famed 96th Street shopping district offering an array of
boutiques and shops with a wide variety of goods including jewelry, chic clothing, home
décor, and much more. A paradise for nature lovers, the community is home to the
Wetland Institute, a world-­renowned education and conservation facility. Self­-guided tours
lead to turtle stations, salt marsh trails, aquariums and an observation tower. There are
also boat and kayak tours of the area available.

With a population of fewer than 900 permanent residents, the community may be small
but has one of the state’s best­-educated citizenry with residents holding college degrees
at a rate almost twice the national average. Residents here also enjoy some of the state’s
highest incomes, well above state and national averages. And with more than 40 percent
of the population age 65 or over, it goes without saying that it’s a very popular spot to
which to retire. In addition to maintaining the community’s excellent beach, town
government also operates 16 all-­weather tennis courts and offers a variety of arts and
crafts classes, fitness classes and camps, and sports leagues in basketball, lacrosse and
bocce ball. Sports clinics are also offered in those sports as well as baseball and fishing
and crabbing.