Sag Harbor’s Re-Emergence, in One Address

This weekend’s New York Times real-estate section has a nicely turned encapsulation of changes in the village of Sag Harbor, N.Y., over the last four decades. It’s told through the ownership of one of the formerly modest homes from the “UnHamptons” village’s industrial past–houses that now sell or rent for a fortune in Sag Harbor’s precious present. Except for the extraordinary attention paid to historic preservation there, the village is no longer as distinct from the rest of the Hamptons. But the story of its transformation actually goes back further than the 1987 start of the NY Times’ tale. From at least the 1970s, Sag Harbor was trying to reawaken what had once been a bustling core economy. It never wanted to be like the Hamptons hamlets that took off around it, but in the end it couldn’t escape that. More on this saga in a future post!