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Zach Studenroth signs a copy of his book, "Preserving Sag Harbor: The Historic District After 50 Years 1973-2023" for former Historical Museum board member Bethany Deyermond. STEPHEN J. KOTZ
Zach Studenroth displays a copy of Robert H. Pine's "Sag Harbor: Past, Present and Future," with served as the inspiration for his own book, as Sag Harbor Historical Museum board president Nancy French Achenbach and board member Bryan Boyhan look on. STEPHEN J. KOTZ
Members of the Sag Harbor Historical Museum and their guests gathered on Sunday, November 19, at the Main Street home of Shannah Laumeister Stern to celebrate the publication of “Preserving Sag Harbor: The Historic District After 50 Years, 1973-2023,” by Zach Studenroth.
Studenroth, the vice president of the museum’s board and the village’s historic preservation consultant, was introduced by Board President Nancy French Achenbach. Studenroth said he was inspired to write his book, which celebrates the village’s long record of preserving and repurposing historic buildings, after realizing that this year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Robert H. Pine’s “Sag Harbor: Past, Present and Future,” which paralleled the village’s establishment of its historic district.
“In doing the research, what struck me is, long before the district itself was formalized and created, this village has had an astonishing history of preserving and adapting buildings to new uses for many, many decades,” Studenroth said.
As an example, he pointed to the Municipal Building, which began life as the Nassau House hotel before being transformed into the village school.
Studenroth also credited Bryan Boyhan, the former publisher of The Sag Harbor Express and a new member of the museum board, who designed and laid out the book, for his assistance. “You not only laid it out but you wrote most of the articles that I researched to write it,” he said, citing The Express as “an extraordinary resource.”
Boyhan, who joined the paper as editor in 1988, said, “I was not born with a thirst for history, but it grew in me, and reading Zach’s stories as they came in as I began to lay out the book, I found myself thirsting to learn more and more about the village, and I came to a greater understanding about how this village evolved and the way it evolved the way it did.”
Achenbach also introduced Joan Tripp, the Historical Society’s original president, and David Bray, a former longtime trustee.
Tripp said she remembered the efforts to preserve various historical buildings in the village and said she was happy and encouraged to see the Historical Museum, which adopted that new name last year, continuing to expand its presence in the village.
There are a limited number of copies of Studenroth’s book. It is available at the Sag Harbor Historical Museum at 174 Main Street in Sag Harbor.
