Sag Harbor-a 'Gritty' Town

 My sister and I were visiting a furniture store up island a couple of weeks ago. I was speaking with the salesperson and in our conversation, I asked her if she had visited Sag Harbor. “Of course,” she responded, “but I find it to be a bit too uptight for me.” “Too uptight!” I had never heard this or considered this notion before. My sister mused that her comment must have really bothered me-but I responded that it didn’t really bother me, I just wanted to understand it. I pondered, why does she see this once sleepy village as ‘uptight’? The honking horns? The need for many traffic control officers on one small Main Street, the long lines to get into restaurants, the traffic backed up on Jermain Avenue and 114. Had people on Main Street stopped smiling at one another, stopped saying good morning? Had snatching a parking space become more important than decorum and manners? Had some restaurants become exclusive, only welcoming a certain clientele? Was Sag Harbor losing its soul, its energy, its uniqueness? And if so, what were we losing it to? The needs and wants of a few?

 At a recent meeting regarding the controversial development and change in our village I heard Sag Harbor referred to as a ‘gritty’ town. I wondered, what do they mean by ‘Gritty’ and why does that appeal to the newcomers?

 Definition of gritty

1: containing or resembling grit-check 

2: courageously persistent-check

3: having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism-check

 I imagine Sag Harbor was a ‘gritty’ village since its inception. Throughout time people were drawn here for the bounty of the sea and the land. Merged with the beauty of our village is a wide and expansive history-beginning with the foot paths of the Algonquin tribe and extending to the glory days of a harbor alive with the stir of whalers and whaling ships, coopers, ropemakers, black smiths-the smell of blubber boiled down in try-pots, and church steeples being raised to the heavens. Main Street was a bustle with horse and carriages, barbers, bars and brothels. Diverse and resilient folks from every continent and creed rubbed elbows on busy winding streets. The famous, the infamous, the courageous the ingenious, the enterprising, the entertaining-Sag Harbor has a history that tells the story of the strength and potency of the human spirit. There is no need to close my eyes to imagine the sheer beauty and ‘grit’ of our village.

 This grit stretched to the generations of my ancestors and the people I grew up with. Camping in the once wilds of North Haven, out fishing off of Montauk, gathering clams and mussels, climbing trees, riding our bikes to the ocean-we felt the grit of being part of the earth. 

 There is a fear among some that our village may become too gentrified, that the cracks and seashells in our sidewalks might disappear and we might take on a polished Hampton ‘look’. It is the fear of homogenizing into a world of sameness, of high-end chain stores, of fancy cars, fashion and superficial priorities. Some are afraid of losing our grit along with our waterfront. We need to hold onto the character of our village, retain our friendly, gracious nature and continue to be a village that stands up for what we believe in-whatever that might be.          `