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Sag Harbor Express / Editorials / 2041117

Out of Sight

Editorial Board on Sep 28, 2022

The First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church in Sag Harbor has served as a center for the community in many ways — it is home to the Sag Harbor Food Pantry, has been home to the Hamptons LGBT Center and offers space for Alcoholics Anonymous. Its downstairs has routinely been used over the years for community events, everything from political debates to strawberry shortcake fundraisers and St. Patrick’s Day feasts, while its sanctuary has provided religious services since 1844, and also offered a venue for music of all genres.

The building itself, at this point, is perhaps the most iconic historic building in all of Sag Harbor Village — an Egyptian Revival masterpiece designed by Minard Lafever with Greek Revival elements, particularly in the interior of the sanctuary.

Last week, members of the church’s Session, its governing body, revived talks about restoring the church’s 185-foot-tall steeple, toppled by the Hurricane of 1938. The concept also involves using the steeple to conceal antennas for cellphone carriers.

Anyone who has lived in — or visited — Sag Harbor understands that there is an urgent need for better cell service in many pockets of the village. Neighbors have not warmed to a proposal by Verizon to construct a new monopole cell tower to replace the WLNG station’s aging lattice broadcasting tower. The church’s central location, as noted by the Session in its pitch to the Village of Sag Harbor to have Old Whalers’ serve as an alternate site for a cell tower, could make an ideal location, particularly if the antennas are concealed within the steeple itself.

It must be noted that in an age of historic churches being sold to the highest bidder — congregations nationwide are dwindling and unable to keep up with the expense of maintaining these important buildings — any plan that pumps much needed revenue into the Old Whalers’ Church is a plan that has an intrinsic community benefit for Sag Harbor, just in helping to keep the church’s doors open.

That said, for most everyone, an Old Whalers’ Church, complete with a steeple, would be an unfamiliar sight, perhaps one not all community members will rally around. But when it comes to such an intrinsic part of the fabric of Sag Harbor, it is certainly an idea worth exploring. A steeple beats a monopole, and having both in one is a nifty way to honor history while ushering in new technology.

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