For centuries, Sag Harbor remained an elusive dream for African Americans, who worked for wealthy white families but couldn’t actually live there because of their skin color. Instead, Black and Native American families resided in nearby Eastville in tiny clapboard houses. 

As part of our Black History Month coverage, we are focusing on a little-known part of that history:  a planned Black community in the heart of the Hamptons, a beachfront haven, which in the 1940s began to attract middle class African-American families.

In an effort to preserve this rare community, the Sag Harbor Village Board recently passed a law enacting the Historic Black Beach Communities Overlay District.

Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest & Ninevah Subdivisions (SANS)  is an African American beachfront community in Sag Harbor, New York.