Joan Tripp: Growing Up With History

Sag Harbor's representative to the East Hampton Town 350th Anniversary Committee, Joan Tripp, has "always been interested in history," and no wonder.

The president of the Sag Harbor Historical Society, she grew up on the village's Main Street in an old whaling captain's house with the date "1867" carved over its hearth, and spent many hours of her childhood exploring its hidden nooks and searching for a reputed secret panel. (Eventually, it was found.)

Mrs. Tripp, nee Bates, has continued to inhabit historic houses for much of her life. She and her husband, James, now live on Hempstead Street in the Eastville section, in two 18th-century houses joined together and carefully restored.

One of them, a "typical Long Island half-house," was the home of the Snooks family in the 1700s. In 1854 a family named McMahon moved in, and the Tripps occasionally find bits and pieces of their lives - baby combs carved of ivory, a shoe - in unexpected places. A descendant of that family still lives across the street.

The other half of the Tripp house comes from North Haven. Originally the home of Jonathon Paine, it is believed to be only the second house built there.

The Tripps lived in Huntington after they married but spent summers in Sag Harbor before moving there full-time in 1990. Mrs. Tripp is a broker at Allan M. Schneider Associates in Bridgehampton, a vocation that fits right in with her avocation.

The Historical Society grew up on the foundation of several forerunners but was basically Mrs. Tripp's baby. "What got me interested was the fate of Little Umbrella House," she said. The Division Street building, of Flemish brick with a gambrel roof which overhangs it like an umbrella, is said to be Sag Harbor's oldest building.

Developers had proposed an apartment complex for adjacent property, and wanted to use the building for offices. That development was prevented, and today the building houses an antique store.

Among the society's preservation and restoration projects is the village's former jailhouse, also on Division Street. It was slated for demolition not so long ago, to make way for a parking lot.

The Historical Society sponsors four programs a year. This year, said Mrs. Tripp, one of them will be devoted to East Hampton Town history.