Explore the ‘Un-Hamptons’
Sag Harbor, 1872
History and charm await in quaint Sag Harbor
The car ferry from New London, Conn., to Long Island, N.Y., was practically empty as a friend and I headed to Sag Harbor on a glorious June day. My guidebook said the village had been a bawdy whaling port in the 1700s and 1800s, overrun by harpooners and crews on leave after spending years at sea. When the invention of electricity doused the need for whale oil to light lamps, Sag Harbor settled into being a quiet hamlet for summer residents.
A Writer’s Colony
Residents over the years have included author John Steinbeck and women’s rights activist Betty Friedan. Interestingly, Moby Dick author Herman Melville never lived there, but did visit. In his novel, he described Sag Harbor through the character of a harpooner who “stayed on board during shore leave, content to remain a pagan if Christians acted as they did in a village where local brothels and gin-shops could swallow a sailor alive.’’ The tradition of writers in Sag Harbor continues today with Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, who grew up summering in the Azurest section of the village, one of the earliest African American beachfront communities in the U.S. Whitehead wrote a novel about the area, aptly titled Sag Harbor. Sag Harbor is 100 miles east of New York City. From Connecticut, a ferry from Bridgeport, Conn., takes passengers to Port Jefferson on Long Island, 50 miles away from Sag Harbor. For those who don’t want to drive, the Hampton Jitney bus picks up riders in midtown Manhattan and drops off in the middle of town. Unlike neighboring East Hampton and Southampton, where ubiquitous privet hedges guard the privacy of the rich and famous, the village of Sag Harbor is known as the “Un-Hamptons’’ for its low-key vibe.
Consignment Treasures
On the wharf, we saw a sign for the boutique and consignment store Ava’s & Around Again. Our spirits lifted as we shimmied past a line of tourists waiting outside Big Olaf’s Ice Cream shop and walked into the store. We spent two happy hours browsing through a selection of jewelry, clothes and purses that appeared to be castoffs from inhabitants of the actual Hamptons. I looked at a pair of slightly scuffed Manolo Blahnik slingbacks (a steal at $125) and my friend bought a flirty skirt by Betsey Johnson that still had its original tag ($295) but was marked at $20. I looked at a furry purse but passed when the clerk said it was “real pony.’’ Afterward, feeling a bit guilty about all that shopping, we walked down Main Street to Sag Harbor Books, a small bookstore where a clerk gave us a history lesson on the village and directed us around the corner to see where villagers lived.
Ava’s & Around Again
Main Street
Multicultural Roots
At the The Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum, we learned that whaling was a multicultural endeavor, where many enslaved African Americans found work as whalers, fishermen or shipbuilders alongside Native Americans and European immigrants. Women worked as seamstresses, launderers or bakers to earn money while their husbands were at sea, often for years at a time. By the end of the day, we were famished. We took a table on the deck of the Dockside Bar & Grill located on the wharf in the American Legion building. Open since 1996, the restaurant boasts antibiotic-, hormoneand preservative-free meats, poultry and seafood. It was difficult to choose from all of the inventive options on the menu, including fresh herb and crumb-crusted cod with lemon beurre blanc, citrus blackened Scottish salmon with mango-pineapple salsa and Oaxacan spice grilled flat iron steak with avocado tomatillo sauce. I opted for the fresh salad with sesame-seared tuna. It was a perfect end to an enlightening and educational day.