The Sag Harbor Partnership announced a fundraising campaign this week to restore the Sag Harbor Firemen’s Museum on Church Street, a Sag Harbor Fire Department building which in the 1970s had been converted to a museum showcasing the history of the oldest fire department in New York State.
The Partnership says it is working directly with Sag Harbor Village on the project, with the blessing of Mayor Tom Gardella, a longtime village firefighter and ex-chief who has long been advocating for restoring the museum.
Pictured Above: The Sag Harbor Firemen’s Museum in 2015. |. Sag Harbor Partnership photo
New York State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, also a former Sag Harbor firefighter, is working with them on an application for a state grant as well.
The museum, which had been run by members of the volunteer fire department, is located in its former Montauk Hose Company Headquarters on the corner of Church and Sage Streets. The building, which dates back to 1833, had also served as a lecture hall, a church and village hall.
The museum closed in 2020 after the death of Thomas Horn, Sr., a senior member of the department who had been dedicated to its upkeep and could often be seen manning a table outside the department’s Main Street substation fundraising for the department.
The Sag Harbor Partnership said in a Sept. 9 email blast that contractor Moisés Cerdas, owner of Moises A. Cerdas Builder, LLC has given “a very extensive amount of consultation for free, and has been with us every step of the way in looking for best practices in our reinforcement and rebuilding of the old firehouse Museum structure. We have signed a contract with him for a fixed fee, and he estimates that the work will be a little less than $1 million to complete.”
“We also want to thank Lee Skolnick of SKOLNICK Architecture, internationally recognized museum designer and recipient of so many museum design awards in his storied career,” they added. “As a full-time Sag Harborite, he has offered his services gratis and we will only be paying his firm’s interns for help in finalizing the new, fresh displays that will be offered to the public using all the wonderful old objects for which the museum was known.”
“Our focus will, as always, be in the direction of a first class structure with the features it now has, and a Museum that all can be proud of,” added the Partnership.
“It will be an experience that will attract, entertain and educate people of all ages, and in this case especially children. We thank Mayor Tom Gardella and the Village Board of Trustees for their faith in us, and in our community, to realize a truly collaborative vision on the part of our legislative representatives and the public,” they added.
A plaque will be installed in the museum honoring donations of $2,500 and above.
Donations can be made online here.
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