Though a relatively small town, Sag Harbor on the East End ofLong Island, New York, has a fascinating history. Members ofthe Algonquin Indian tribe lived and summered here thousandsof years ago. English colonists arrived nearby in 1645, found thesoil ideal for farming and established some of the earliest settlementsin the New World.At one time, Sag Harbor commerce was busier than New YorkCity's and led to establishment of the first Custom House on LongIsland. Sag Harbor may be best known as one of the leading whalingharbors on the East Coast. At the industry's height in the 1840s, it washome port for some 60 whaling ships that roamed the world's oceans, supported by the village's rope works, coopers, blacksmiths, sailmakers, and shipbuilders. Revenue from the industry built distinctivehomes that still line Main Street. The first Long Island newspaper was published here in 1791. The Revolutionary War and Civil War affected Sag Harbor and its people like hundreds of other small towns in young America. The endof whaling in the latter half of the 1800s brought a period of decline, other businesses unable to keep up with modern advancements. In later years, writers and artists began coming here for respite from the City, and a freer, less expensive lifestyle. Now, close to, but still separate in spirit from the fabled Hamptons, Sag Harbor attracts visitors from all over the world.These stories which originally appeared in the Sag Harbor Express over the last ten years create an intimate picture of some of the events and people that created the unique personality of an "American Beauty
