Voices from the Past

This past weekend was the Cultural Heritage Weekend in Sag Harbor and despite gray, damp weather, the village was abuzz. At the Sag Harbor Historical Society (SHHS), "Voices from the Past" were heard on Saturday afternoon as trustees and members read letters, curated by Trustee Barbara Schwartz, from William Cooper's sister and two daughters, all of whom migrated westward in the latter half of the 19th century and missed their family at home. The Annie Cooper Boyd House was filled with interested listeners, each of whom was provided with a handy Cooper family tree as a reference. The letters underscore some of the challenges, describing fires and floods as a few of the gravest, and the voices clearly resound with the authors' loneliness and yearning for family and friends at home in Sag Harbor.