Sag Harbor Custom House

Written By Dino DiPietro

Here’s a detailed history of the Sag Harbor Custom House:

🏛️ Origins and Early Structure

  • The Custom House was originally built around 1770 (with sources citing 1765 as well), as a modest two-story, three-bay “half-house” typical of eastern Long Island settlements of the period

Federal Port & Henry Packer Dering

  • Following the American Revolution, Sag Harbor was officially designated a U.S. Port of Entry in 1789 by President Washington

  • Around that time, Henry Packer Dering (1763–1822) was appointed one of Sag Harbor’s first Customs Collectors, and later became the town’s postmaster

  • Dering acquired the property in the early 1790s and transformed the residence to suit his public duties and a growing family

Architectural Expansion

  • Circa 1790: A lean-to was added to convert the parlor into a customs office and counting house.

  • Circa 1794: A second lean-to was built to accommodate his new role as postmaster.

  • Circa 1795: With Dering’s marriage and the birth of children, a center-door expansion was completed, creating a more formal, larger home

Later Years & Preservation

  • Over time, the structure underwent multiple alterations to serve both domestic and commercial functions

  • By 1948, facing demolition, the Old Sagg‑Harbour Committee relocated the house from Union & Church Streets to its current spot at 192 Main Street, near Garden Street

  • In 1966, Preservation Long Island (formerly the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities) took ownership

Museum and Cultural Significance

  • Today, the Custom House is open for seasonal tours, interpreted as both Dering’s family home and federal office

  • It provides a rare example of an 18th-century private house adapted for public customs functions, blending civic and domestic spaces in the post-Revolutionary Whaling Era

  • The building is a contributing property within the Sag Harbor Village Historic District, listed in 1994, and is functioning as a museum operated by Preservation Long Island

Context in Sag Harbor’s Growth

  • Sag Harbor had grown into a shipping and whaling hub since the early 1760s. The growth was temporarily halted during the British occupation in the Revolutionary War, but recovered post-1783

  • With Port of Entry status, the town became a center for trade with whalers, coasters, and West Indies shipping — bringing more federal infrastructure like the Custom House

Dino DiPietro