Azurest, a community of Black home and business owners, is celebrating its 75th year nestled in the Village of Sag Harbor and the Town of East Hampton. To mark the occasion, an event is planned at the Bridgehampton Community House for this Saturday, August 13, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Founded by Black business and landowner, Maude Terry, Azurest came to be through persistence and courage, buying land to establish a resort community when many African Americans were shut out of resort areas nationwide.
A historically African American community, Azurest’s beginnings are attributed to Terry, a Black school teacher from Brooklyn, and other African Americans from greater New York who vacationed in Sag Harbor’s Eastville neighborhood, renting black-owned cottages along Liberty and Hampton Streets. Founded in 1947, Terry selected the name Azurest after considering Heavenly Peace, Blue Rest, and Blue Haven, Azure Rest. From these descriptions and phrases, the name “Azurest” was coined.
Among the honorees at Saturday’s celebration will be ABC TV’s Linsey Davis; Suzan Johnson Cook, the first African American woman from New York State to become a U.S. ambassador and Colson Whitehead, two-time Pulitzer prize-winning author.
Staff Writer on Aug 8, 2022