Dorothy Zaykowski, Sag Harbor Historian, Dies at 94

Dorothy “Dot” Ingersoll Zaykowski, the author of “Sag Harbor: The Story of an American Beauty,” an indispensable history of her native village, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on January 22. She was 94.

Zaykowski, who was also a librarian in the history room of the John Jermain Memorial Library from 1978 to 1996 and a columnist for The Sag Harbor Express, worked with the committee to map out and list the graves in the village’s first cemetery, which was later published in the historical booklet “The Old Burying Ground at Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York.” She also wrote “The History of North Haven” with her son, Joseph Zaykowski Jr.

Zaykowski also played an important role at the Sag Harbor Historical Society, now the Sag Harbor Historical Museum.

“She was the glue that held this together,” said Nancy French Achenbach, the museum’s executive director. “And she still is — through her book.”

Achenbach described the book, which was published in 1991 and took Zaykowski over a decade to research and write, as “the bible of Sag Harbor,” which occupies a prominent place in the personal libraries of those who are interested in the village’s past.

Joan Tripp, who founded the Historical Society in 1985, said Zaykowski played an important role in it. “She was a wonderful contributor to the history of Sag Harbor and to the Historical Society, per se,” she said, with her book being “her greatest contribution.”

The book is so well regarded locally that it became the focal point of the celebration of the completion of the John Jermain Memorial Library renovation and expansion. On July 23, 2016, village residents lined the streets to pass a copy of it from the library’s temporary quarters on Long Island Avenue to its home on Main Street.

Andrea Meyer, who summered in Sag Harbor and today is the head of the Long Island Collection, the historical department of the East Hampton Library, said Zaykowski had been a great mentor to her. “I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without her,” Meyer said.

She said when she was a child of about 11 or 12, she went “on a mission to find the grave of the woman” who first lived in her family’s home. She walked over to the Old Burying Ground just up the street — and there she met Zaykowski and other volunteers.

“Next thing I know, I was signed up to transcribe gravestones and taught how to use mud and water to clean stones,” she said, adding that a lifelong love of historic research was born that day and encouraged by Zaykowski. She would visit her at the library or at the Historical Society.

Nancy Cory also worked with Zaykowski on historic projects, but under the auspices of the Sag Harbor First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church. The two worked on monthly programs tied to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the construction of the church, and she said that Zaykowski helped organize the congregation’s archives. Years later, “every time we opened a file and saw that it was well maintained, it was thanks to Dot,” she said.

The Reverend Nancy Remkus, who presided over Zaykowski’s funeral service at the Old Whalers’ Church on Sunday, remembered her as a dedicated member of the congregation and “one of our great historians.”

She said Zaykowski verified a letter from a worker that played a key role in proving that the architect Minard Lefever of New York had designed the church, helping lead to its designation as a National Historic Monument.

In 2021, Remkus videotaped various people in the village who had been inspired by Zaykowski’s work to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her book’s publication.

One of those interviewed was Tony Garro, who said when he retired to Sag Harbor, his wife bought him a copy of the book in an effort to keep him from following her around the house all day.

“I was completely mesmerized,” he said in the video. “I became a captive of Sag Harbor.” For years afterward, Garro led popular historic tours in the village.

Many noted that Zaykowski was not comfortable having the spotlight on her. “She was a very mild, very gracious lady, who never ever wanted to take any kind of applause or recognition for what she did,” said Achenbach.

Achenbach said when “Sag Harbor: The Story of an American Beauty” was published in 1991, there was a big celebration in the village, with the book delivered to Long Wharf by packet ship and carried to the Custom House via horse-and-wagon. “I think it was touch-and-go whether she was going to come to that book launching party,” Achenbach said. “That’s the kind of person she was.”

“She was very modest. She did not like to be the center of attention,” said her son, Joseph Zaykowski Jr.

Modest though she was, she was talented in many ways, said her daughter, Beverly Zaykowski Pesano. “She painted, she wrote poetry and short stories,” she said, adding that she was also interested in Native American history and archeology, as well as arts and crafts and gardening.

Her family said their mother enjoyed going to Sagg Main Beach to see the ocean or Havens Beach and Long Beach to enjoy the bay. She visited local ponds where she grew up as well, they said.

A fourth-generation Sag Harbor resident, Zaykowski was born on September 15, 1930, at Southampton Hospital to Herbert and Amy (LaGuire) Ingersoll.

Her son said his mother could trace her ancestry to the Gann family, indentured servants who came with Lion Gardiner, who arrived in America in 1639. Gardiner later gave them a piece of land on Three Mile Harbor, near what is now Gann Road.

Zaykowski attended local schools and graduated from Pierson High School in 1948. Zaykowski returned to school in her mid-50s and received highest honors when she received an associate degree from Suffolk Community College.

On October 15, 1950, she and Joseph Zaykowski Sr. were married at St. Andrew Catholic Church in the village.

She was predeceased by her husband, and her daughter, Joy Zaykowski Dawson, who is survived by Maha Banning, her husband, Jack, her daughters, Kerri and Erica, and their families.

Zaykowski is also survived by her son, Joseph Jr., and his wife, Julie (Loveridge), of North Haven; granddaughter Heather Zaykowski, her husband, Kevin Daly, and great-grandson Benjamin Daly of Melrose, Massachusetts; and her daughter, Beverly Zaykowski Pesano, and her husband, Richard, of Baldwinsville, New York; and granddaughters Alexandra Pesano of Duluth, Minnesota, and Ashley Pesano of Buffalo.

The family thanked Zaykowski’s caregiver, Dulce Delgado, who, they said, comforted her until the very end.

Zaykowski was buried in Oakland Cemetery following her funeral service on Sunday afternoon.

Donations in Zaykowski’s memory may be made to the Old Whalers’ Church at oldwhalerschurch.org or the Sag Harbor Historical Museum at sagharborhistorical.org.