Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum

Sag Harbor Whaling Museum is a museum in Sag Harbor, New York, dedicated to the town's past as a prosperous whaling port. It houses the largest collection of whaling equipment in the state of New York. The museum is filled with the equipment of the whaling ships: guns, try pots, flensing knives, blubber spades, figureheads, and a large collection of scrimshaw carvings etched on whale ivory. In the Harpoon Room, harpoons line the walls along with whale vertebrae and shipbuilding tools. Elsewhere are paintings of 19th-century whale hunts. The museum owns the entire building, allowing the Masonic Lodge to meet upstairs. In 1998, on one of his many visits to the Hamptons, President Clinton was presented with historic information about the Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum. Once back in Washington, he handed the information over to the First Lady, who began the process of declaring our building a National Treasure. After much correspondence with Mrs. Clinton, the building which houses our museum was accepted as an official project of the Save America's Treasures program. Built in 1845 for $7,000, this building was originally the home of Benjamin Huntting II and his family. After Huntting's death in 1867, his home was purchased by the well known philanthropist Mrs. Russell Sage, who occupied it as a summer cottage until the time of her death in 1918. In 1920 the building was purchased by the Masonic Lodge. The local historical society began exhibiting some of their artifacts on the ground floor shortly thereafter, and in 1945 the building was deeded to the museum. The Sag Harbor Whaling and Historical Museum now owns the building, while the Masonic Lodge still uses the second floor as a Masonic Temple.