Sag Harbor

IF YOUR WERE to ask the average American citizen 200 years ago to name the nation's great ports, you'd probably hear Sag Harbor mentioned in the same breath as New York City. That's because one of the first bills passed during the initial session of U.S. Congress was the establishment of New York City and "Sagg-harbour" as the New York State's two official U.S. Ports of Entry. Clearly, things have changed. What was once a thriving center for foreign trade and whaling has become a quaint summer resort village. Yet all is not lost from those glory days. Sag Harbor is still home to a wealth of landmark buildings whose architectural styles trace the development of the town from those earliest years -- witness the cottagelike simplicity of the 1693 House -- through the Georgian, Federalist, Greek Revival, Italianate, Victorian and Beaux Arts styles. Take particular note of the historic Old Whaler's Church, an 1843 Egyptian Revival treasure whose steeple was lost in the Hurricane of 1938.