For generations of Sag Harbor families, a flag on a windmill meant a ship was home. When lookouts spotted a returning whaler in the bay, the flag went up on the Beebee Windmill, and the village knew. The mill left Sag Harbor long ago, and on Sunday, November 15, the Sag Harbor Historical Museum will dedicate a roadside marker at the spot where it stood.

The dedication

The ceremony is set for 2 to 3 p.m. at the corner of Suffolk and Jermain streets, the windmill's original location. The museum is putting up the sign to record that part of village history and lore for people who walk past the corner today with no idea a whaling signal once stood there.

The Beebee Windmill itself still exists. It now stands on Ocean Road in Bridgehampton. The museum has titled the dedication Flag on the Mill, Ship in the Bay, after the signal itself.

Why the signal mattered

In the whaling era, a returning ship was news for the whole village, and the flag on the mill was how it spread. Residents who saw it knew a whaler had been sighted in the bay, and according to the museum the flag was always raised on the Beebee Windmill rather than anywhere else. The new marker puts that piece of village lore back at street level.

The museum's own collection keeps the mill in view in another way. Annie Cooper Boyd, the Sag Harbor artist and diarist whose family house is now the museum's headquarters on Main Street, painted the windmill, and her painting appears on a door in the house. Boyd was born in 1864 and grew up next door, and she painted landmarks of the East End onto the doors and walls of the building, which is why the museum treats her work as a primary record of what the village looked like in the late 1800s.

More from the museum this month

  • Colonial Taverns with Diane Schwindt, Saturday, November 7, 4 to 5:30 p.m. The storyteller and food historian talks about the role the colonial tavern played in a community, what went on inside it, and where expressions such as blackballed, punchline and shot glass came from. It takes place at the museum, 174 Main Street.
  • Holiday Open House, Saturday, December 12, 4 to 6 p.m. The museum's seasonal open house closes out its calendar for the year.

About the house

The Sag Harbor Historical Society was founded in 1986 and renamed the Sag Harbor Historical Museum in 2023. Nancy Boyd Willey, Annie Cooper Boyd's daughter, left the society its headquarters in 1998. The earliest record of the house is a 1796 mortgage, but in 2022 the museum hired a dendrochronologist to date its timbers by their growth rings. That study found that the original half house, now the southern portion of the building, dates to 1760, before the American Revolution.

How to go

The marker dedication is outdoors at Suffolk and Jermain streets in Sag Harbor. The museum building at 174 Main Street is closed for the season apart from scheduled events, and visits can be arranged by appointment by calling 631-725-5092. Event details are on the museum's dedication page.

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