
Our History
The American Hotel, an East-End fixture, dates from 1846, the height of the whaling era.
It is unclear what happened to the original inn, but the indications are that it burned during one of the periodic fires that raced through the old wooden structures in the crowded village. In 1824 a local cabinetmaker by the name of Nathan Tinker began construction of a brick edifice. It was probably used primarily as his residence.
By 1845, the whaling was near its economic peak and cultural nadir! Sag Harbor was filled to capacity with sailors, chandleries, the stench of rendering whale oil, and profligacy. Melville’s Quequeg, en route to Ahab’s Moby Dick, briefly stayed at Sag Harbor and concluded the heather way superior to that of the Christian! Whaling, three-masters and prosperity was subsumed by the gold rush of 1849-1850 in California, and Sag Harbor receded to a charming if impecunious backwater for over a century. As a business proposition, Nathan Tinker, Sag Harbor’s master cabinet maker, made a catastrophic mistake. He set to work adding onto his original brick structure for the purpose of providing mercantile space and housing to the whale trade. We may imagine immense stocks of hemp and tar, harpoons, sailcloth, barrels of hard tack and dried cod piled at the ready. A boarding house operated above and in the rear of the structure. It didn’t last long.
The whaling industry suffered a rapid decline after 1846. Ships had to travel much greater distances to find their catch. Steamships were replacing the wooden sailing vessels, and half the local fleet, over 20 ships were reportedly lost in the stormy winters of 1847 and 1848.
Captain William Freeman, whaler and ferry boat owner and Bridgehampton farmer Addison M. Youngs bought the building from Tinker’s heirs in 1876, built a porch, installed a bar and dining room, and named it The American Hotel or “The American House.”
In 1972 the present owner, Ted Conklin, acquired a neglected building. It hadn’t taken guests since the early 1930s, had not sold liquor (legally) since before World War I, and hadn’t served a meal in decades. The coal stove was rusted, the privies were collapsed and the nonagenarian owner, Will Youngs, years a widower, had long since dedicated the dining room as his living quarters. Conklin proceeded to return the hotel to a semblance of its former dignity. He enlarged and modernized the kitchen facilities and brought back the faded elegance of the dining rooms. Guestrooms were slowly restored, the restaurant reopened July 4th, 1972, and The American Hotel has since been a location to be conjured with on the Main Street of Sag Harbor.
A popular start-up in the early 1970s, the focus turned to fine-dining and proper wine, cigars and accommodations – what one described as, the ‘necessities of life.’ By 1981 The Hotel had been awarded, with 14 other establishments world-wide, (4 extant in 2013,) the Wine Spectator Grand Award Wine list for the best in the world! The DiRona and other culinary titles followed, along with numerous professional and client reviews.
The restoration of The Hotel is an ongoing project. The work to improve cuisine and service continues. The substantial capital efforts, much unseen – like repairing the ribs on a boat – is dedicated to preserving and improving the building, but, far more important, the effort is made to provide a proud home for Sag Harbor’s incredible breadth of people, local and international, poor and wealthy, ascendant, struggling, famous, (occasionally) unsavory, accomplished and powerful, published and unpublished, beautiful and ordinary – vital, every one of us.
The Center of the Universe..
RESTAURANT HOURS
Breakfast Available Saturday and Sunday 9am-10:45am
Lunch Daily 11:30am-4pm
Happy Hour Daily 4pm-6pm
Light Menu between Lunch and Dinner
Dinner Daily 4pm-10pm
With Reservation
Walk-ins Welcome by Availability
DINING RESERVATIONS
CONTACT
(631)725-3535
OR
(631)725-3555
LOCATION
The American Hotel
P. O. Box 1349
49 Main Street
Sag Harbor, NY 11963