HISTORIC SAG HARBOR: Turn of the Century Photographs of William Howard

William Garrett Howard (1857-1915) moved to Sag Harbor in 1881 and spent the next several decades photographing the people and places of his adopted village.

Howard’s original photographic glass plates were unknown – lost for over 100 years – until being stumbled upon in an old barn during the summer of 2020 by Randy Kolhoff, owner of Black Swan Antiques. Kolhoff has spent the last three years laboriously cleaning and restoring the glass plates so that modern digital copies can be made, revealing Howard’s astonishingly beautiful and historically important images.

The photographs capture Sag Harbor at the dawn of a new century; her diverse community, her businesses, her parades, church events, beaches, and street scenes, allowing us to revel in the beauty and charm of both the iconic village locations we all know, to never-before-seen locations that are thrilling to discover.

Opens Saturday August 12th. Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00- 4:30 (last admission at 4:00). Admission $8 Adults, $6 Seniors & Students, $3 Children.