Summer 2026

“The Revolution at Hand: Clothing, Work, and Daily Life in Sag Harbor”

This exhibition tells the story of Sag Harbor before, during, and after the American Revolution through objects, clothing, and personal lives. Occupying all three galleries of the museum, the exhibition is organized thematically across four core sections:

Before the War; British Occupation; Exile and Disruption; and, Rebuilding & Celebration

From the world of Samuel L’Hommedieu – where faith, dress, commerce, and political allegiance shaped the birth of a port – to the upheaval of war experienced by figures such as Nathan Fordham Jr. and Continental soldier Christopher Vail, the exhibition traces how global trade, military conflict, and personal conviction transformed the village. Women’s fashion reveals the emergence of American style from English and French models.

The lives of Henry Packer Dering and of Hagar at the Custom House anchors the intertwined histories of enslaved and free people whose labor sustained the harbor. In the decades after the war, whaling families like the Coopers rebuilt prosperity, even as homespun textiles evolved from necessity into national myth.

The exhibition concludes by examining how Americans across generations – 1876, 1926, 1976, and 2026 – have dressed to remember 1776, as seen through the eyes of Sag Harbor High School students, revealing how clothing and commemoration continue to shape national identity.