SANS Preservation Pushback: Sag Harbor Protection of Historic Black Beach Community Stirs Debate
Article by Timothy Bolger for Dan’s Papers Publication | February 3, 2023
Influential poet Langston Hughes, who was dubbed the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Former Manhattan Borough President Edward Dudley, who was the first African-American ambassador to the United States. Former secretary of the NAACP William Pickens. These were among the most well-known Black leaders who either summered or lived in one of three Sag Harbor communities where minorities flocked for respite during the era of segregation.
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. It includes Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Beach Subdivisions Historic District — neighborhoods, known locally as SANS for short, which in 2019 were added to the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.