John Steinbeck's secluded Sag Harbor home is now a big draw
The gazebo or writer's room on the Sag Harbor property where John Steinbeck lived. Credit: NEWSDAY/TONY JEROME
In the early 1960s, when John Steinbeck agreed to serve as honorary chairman of the Old Whaler’s Festival in Sag Harbor, village folklore holds that the renowned author had one stipulation: No one can talk about the location of his home, Southampton Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni recalled.
"The community has been true to that promise," he said. "We don’t talk about where John Steinbeck lives."
Six decades later, however, the secret appears to be out as more than 1,000 visitors have toured the waterfront property where Steinbeck wrote "Travels with Charley" and "The Winter of Our Discontent," according to Diana Howard, copresident of the Steinbeck House Advisory Board.
In February 2023, the town spent $11.2 million toward the preservation of the cottage Steinbeck purchased in 1955, opening the property to the public on a limited basis. It also hosts a writer’s residency program operated by The University of Texas’s Michener Center for Writers. The nonprofit Sag Harbor Partnership contributed to the remainder of the $13.5 million purchase of the Bluff Point Lane property from a trust named for the author’s widow, Elaine Steinbeck.
Howard updated the town board on the program on Sept. 26 and said while most visitors are local, others have traveled from different states and as far as England and Ireland. Three visitors, she said, arrived at Sag Harbor to retrace Steinbeck’s journey in "Travels with Charley."
The town preserved the property with community preservation funds — property transfer tax revenue the town uses for land acquisitions. A requirement of using those funds was to create public access.
Free tours of the property are held on Saturday between noon and 4 p.m. Reservations are required at steinbeckhouse.org. Expanded hours will be held Oct. 12-14, one of three holiday weekends where the home is also available to tour.
The inside of the home is otherwise off limits when the writer is living there.
Lori Raimondo, a member of the advisory board who leads tours and helps train other docents, said she encounters a mix of people, including some locals who had never been to the property.
"It really is very rewarding to share this home with the people that really, really appreciate it," she said.
Eileen Sungyoo Chong, a 2024 Michener Center graduate and Chicago native, is the current fellow at the home. She's working on a novel. Earlier this year, Hernan Diaz, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning author, brought his wife and daughter to Steinbeck's cottage as the summer fellow.
"They have really enjoyed it because it’s so peaceful," Howard said.
The program was designed for an up-and-coming writer in the fall and a more established writer in the summer. Carrie R. Moore completed her first novel at the home last fall.
The residency program requires the writer to host one community event. Chong will host a 1 p.m. presentation on Oct. 27 at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor called "Making the Unlikeable Writeable: How do we present questionable behavior without condoning it?"
In the early 1960s, when John Steinbeck agreed to serve as honorary chairman of the Old Whaler’s Festival in Sag Harbor, village folklore holds that the renowned author had one stipulation: No one can talk about the location of his home, Southampton Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni recalled.
"The community has been true to that promise," he said. "We don’t talk about where John Steinbeck lives."
Six decades later, however, the secret appears to be out as more than 1,000 visitors have toured the waterfront property where Steinbeck wrote "Travels with Charley" and "The Winter of Our Discontent," according to Diana Howard, copresident of the Steinbeck House Advisory Board.
In February 2023, the town spent $11.2 million toward the preservation of the cottage Steinbeck purchased in 1955, opening the property to the public on a limited basis. It also hosts a writer’s residency program operated by The University of Texas’s Michener Center for Writers. The nonprofit Sag Harbor Partnership contributed to the remainder of the $13.5 million purchase of the Bluff Point Lane property from a trust named for the author’s widow, Elaine Steinbeck.
Howard updated the town board on the program on Sept. 26 and said while most visitors are local, others have traveled from different states and as far as England and Ireland. Three visitors, she said, arrived at Sag Harbor to retrace Steinbeck’s journey in "Travels with Charley."
The town preserved the property with community preservation funds — property transfer tax revenue the town uses for land acquisitions. A requirement of using those funds was to create public access.
Free tours of the property are held on Saturday between noon and 4 p.m. Reservations are required at steinbeckhouse.org. Expanded hours will be held Oct. 12-14, one of three holiday weekends where the home is also available to tour.
The inside of the home is otherwise off limits when the writer is living there.
Lori Raimondo, a member of the advisory board who leads tours and helps train other docents, said she encounters a mix of people, including some locals who had never been to the property.
"It really is very rewarding to share this home with the people that really, really appreciate it," she said.
Eileen Sungyoo Chong, a 2024 Michener Center graduate and Chicago native, is the current fellow at the home. She's working on a novel. Earlier this year, Hernan Diaz, a 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning author, brought his wife and daughter to Steinbeck's cottage as the summer fellow.
"They have really enjoyed it because it’s so peaceful," Howard said.
The program was designed for an up-and-coming writer in the fall and a more established writer in the summer. Carrie R. Moore completed her first novel at the home last fall.
The residency program requires the writer to host one community event. Chong will host a 1 p.m. presentation on Oct. 27 at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor called "Making the Unlikeable Writeable: How do we present questionable behavior without condoning it?"
Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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