Further Reading on Sag Harbor's SANS Community

Archival photo courtesy of Donnamarie Barnes

Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest & Ninevah Subdivisions (SANS) were founded between 1947-1952 by African Americans looking to create a place for themselves. It was primarily a vacation community, a place where people built second homes. They self-financed at a time when policies made it incredibly difficult for Black people to get mortgages. It was a place of rest and relaxation during Jim Crow segregation, when there were few other places Black people could go for this kind of passive recreation. The founders (people like Maude Terry and Amaza Lee Meredith in Azurest, the first of the subdivisions to be settled) created a community for themselves and invited others to be part of it. Word of mouth helped people find their way to the secluded spot on Long Island and a tight knit community sprang up on this bit of coastline along Sag Harbor Bay. SANS remains remarkably intact, preserving tracts full of modest Mid-Century Modern homes and, more importantly, the generations of people who made SANS the place that it is.

In March of 2019, SANS was named to the the New York State Register of Historic Places. SANS made its way onto the National Register of Historic Places just a few months later. In December of 2019, SANS was among those honored with a State Historic Preservation Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation Organizational Achievement. The SANS Steering Committee was honored again in June of 2020 when Preservation Long Island presented a 2020 Project Excellence Award to SANS for their National Register Survey & Nomination​.

A view of the beach in SANS. Photo courtesy of Donnamarie Barnes.

This recognition is well deserved. Community leaders have been working hard for years to ensure the historical significance of SANS is not forgotten and that the community remains protected. But despite the accolades, SANS is still at risk. We named SANS one of our Seven to Save sites (our biennial list of New York’s most endangered historic places) back in February of this year. While SANS is one of this country’s most intact historically African American vacation communities, mounting development pressure coupled with deterioration is putting strain on the community. Waterfront property in the Hamptons is quite valuable today, and developers are keen to take advantage. We’ve spent the last month sharing a bit more about SANS and we’ll continue working alongside local advocates to amplify their voices as their work continues.

But before we move on to our next Seven to Save Spotlight, we wanted to close out August with a roundup of SANS content, including recommended reading and media coverage to help paint a more complete picture of this special place.

In case you missed it, we hosted a virtual panel discussion on August 27. The conversation focused on why SANS is so important, its place in the context of other historically African American beach communities, what its unique challenges are, and what is being done to protect it.

You can watch the recording right here 👇

During the panel, Dr. Grier-Key mentioned the film I Am Not Your Negro, a “radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using James Baldwin’s original words and a flood of rich archival material.” We agree that it’s worth a watch.

From the early 1800's until the mid 1900's, the section of historic Sag Harbor known as Eastville was home to a multi-ethnic population of free Black folks, European immigrants, and Native Americans. The Eastville Community Historical Society preserves this history.

If you’re interested in more of Andrew Kahrl’s research, check out his book The Land Was Ours: How Black Beaches Became White Wealth in the Coastal South.

Listen to the Long Island History Project podcast celebrating Preservation Long Island’s Preservation Award for SANS.

Before being named to the National Register of Historic Places, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a letter in support of the designation.

We’re still reading Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead as part of our Preservation Book Club. Even if you can’t join our discussion, we recommend picking up a copy.

Here are a few news pieces documenting the recent struggles facing residents as developers set their sights on SANS:

Future of Preservation, People Saving PlacesKaty Peace2020-2021 STS, SANS, BIPOC