August 27 Virtual Panel Explores Sag Harbor's SANS Neighborhood

On Thursday, August 27, the Preservation League of New York State will host a free virtual panel exploring SANS (Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest and Ninevah subdivisions), the historically African American vacation community in Sag Harbor. This event is the first in a new webinar series hosted by the league.

SANS is listed on both the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places, but it is threatened by deterioration and insensitive development. Local stakeholders have been working to protect the community and the Preservation League has been advocating alongside them. SANS is currently one of the league’s “Seven to Save” — a biennial list of endangered historic sites in New York State. The August 27 discussion, part of the league’s monthlong “Seven to Save Spotlight,” begins at 4 p.m. and will focus 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.

Panelists are: Donnamarie Barnes, curator and archivist at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm; Malcolm Cammeron, a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia; Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, executive director and curator of Eastville Community Historical Society; Andrew Kahrl, professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and author of “The Land Was Ours: How Black Beaches Became White Wealth in the Coastal South Renee”; and V. H. Simons, president of SANS Sag Harbor.

The discussion will be moderated by Erin Tobin, vice president for policy and preservation at the Preservation League of New York State.

To register for the discussion visit preservenys.org and click on the “Future of Preservation” link.