Historic Hamptons home of 'Aunt Rae' Parks reborn as stylish cottage

When real estate investor Michael Bunton and his wife decided to buy a property in Sag Harbor’s historically Black SANS community, they heard complaints from local "elders" about how large, imposing houses were replacing quaint cottages and bungalows that traditionally characterized their streets.

"There was talk of how developers were coming in and buying two lots to build one large house. We did not want to be those folks," Bunton says of himself and his wife, Gail Anderson-Bunton. The Brooklyn couple had lived in a home in Noyack for 10 years and then sold it in 2011 and returned to Brooklyn. Looking for an investment property later, in 2019 they purchased a Sag Harbor Hills cottage that had been owned by the late Rae Parks. The house sold for $819,000, according to public property records.

The plan was to simply transform Parks’ circa-1950 house into a modern home they would rent out, but along the way the pair became captivated by stories they heard about Parks, her home, and the SANS community — to the point they were considerations as the couple moved forward. SANS comprises Sag Harbor Hills and its neighboring subdivisions of Azurest and Ninevah Beach.

Site's rich legacy

While the Buntons had lived in Noyack, Bunton says it wasn’t until fairly recently that they started "hanging out" with friends from Brooklyn in SANS, and the Buntons began learning about the area’s rich legacy, and the importance of trying to stay true to the character of the historic area and its people. Small homes there had a big story.

SANS was founded about 1950 by aspirational Black people seeking to create a place where they could gather and relax in a wholesome environment. It primarily became a vacation spot, where professionals such as doctors and lawyers with primary residences in Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens built small summer homes. Buyers could get help with mortgages when they couldn’t get financing elsewhere.

"These were second summer homes with the main focus being outdoors and the beach," explains Georgette L. Grier-Key, executive director and curator of the Eastville Community Historical Society. That’s why the houses didn’t need to be large. She adds, "All of the activities were planned for and centered around family and community gatherings, barbecues, fishing boats."

Grier-Key notes bungalows or small cottages were typical of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 1900s to 1920s, and their popularity grew.

"Sears, Roebuck would popularize the bungalow even more with its catalog offerings, the plans could be purchased and all of the materials," Grier-Key adds. "The Eastville Community Historical Society’s headquarters is a Sears, Roebuck catalog home."

Small homes became hubs for SANS social life at a time when Blacks were barred from public halls and other facilities. The houses were sites of fabulous parties, with the gatherings’ heyday being from about the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.

"We wanted the house to be in context with the other homes and for it to not be much bigger than what had been there. We wanted it to fit in," Bunton says. "We wanted to be respectful of the property, of what was there before us, and the fantastic story of the people who lived there." SANS is listed on the state and national registers of historic places.

Parks, who died in 2012 at the age of 100, was a "very prominent" person in SANS, according to Grier-Key. "She was really part of the early development and getting people to buy land, so that parcel is really important." Grier-Key adds that Black people owning property with free access to the water and living comfortable, affluent lives was an "act of resistance" to Jim Crow.

Maintaining the scale

The Buntons had intended to renovate Parks’ house, at 9 Gull Rock Rd., but the building and retaining walls were unsound. They razed the house and in 2021 constructed a 3,300-square-foot, four-bedroom, cedar-shingled cottage. It still appears from the street to have a modest silhouette, though it is three stories and the interior is airy and spacious.

And Grier-Key agrees the new house fits in.

"The design and materials are sensitive to the community," Grier-Key says. "They did not have to get variances; they respected the character and scale of the neighborhood."

It was Anderson-Bunton’s idea to hire Brooklyn-based architect Benjamin Ellis, who had renovated a 19th-century carriage house in Brooklyn for the couple. The Buntons say they had a hand in the interior design and helped achieve the clean, minimalist look of the SANS home, which is being offered for rent furnished.

The cottage is an exclusive Douglas Elliman rental listing and includes a living room, family room, den/office, master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, media room, gym, two fireplaces, loft, hardwood flooring, deck, patio, in-ground gunite pool and outdoor shower. The property includes a private beach and mooring rights.

"I definitely wanted like a beach vibe but I didn’t want anything huge," explains Anderson-Bunton, 49, a public-school teacher in Brooklyn. Bunton, 52, adds that he and his wife "have been dabbling in interior design for some period of time, and some of the art we have on the wall we’ve had for years."

A neighbor gifted the Buntons with two needlepoint pieces made by Parks, which they hung on the wall of the new house to bring it some of her "energy," Bunton says.

Remembering 'Aunt Rae'

The very simple entryway in the modern structure is another nod to Parks, whom family and others called Aunt Rae. It is reminiscent of what had been there, and Parks’ door was one many people had passed through.

"It was a go-to place," Bunton says of SANS overall. "Rae Parks used to host all these wonderful parties."

Patricia Turner, 66, a professor of African American Studies and World Arts, Culture and Dance at the University of California, Los Angeles, grew up in a house a short walk from Parks’ home.

"I babysat for Mrs. Parks’ boyfriend’s two children at her house," Turner recalls. The boyfriend was Bob Brunner, says Thomas Amos, Parks’ nephew. The Brooklyn-born Parks had been married to biology professor Mark E. Parks, who predeceased her. "I liked babysitting for them. I liked getting the call," Turner says.

At the time Parks and Brunner co-owned the Sandbar restaurant on Main Street in Sag Harbor.

Turner remembers the Parks home as "a beachy, midcentury-modern house." She says, "It wasn’t frumpy; it felt contemporary." She notes it was in sharp contrast to Turner’s mother’s home, which was decorated with plaid furniture and table doilies.

Amos, 59, is senior manager of corporate communications for The Economist magazine. His mother, Jacqueline Hendy, is Parks' sister, and Amos says he and Parks were very close. He says Parks made what had been her summer home her year-round residence "by the late '60s or early '70s." Before that she had lived in a Brooklyn brownstone.

Amos says Parks’ Sag Harbor Hills house had a living room, bedroom, full bath and kitchen on the first floor with "an open floor plan," and a lower level with three bedrooms, a full bath and a deck that extended the width of the house.

"My aunt’s favorite color was blue, so there was glassware and all kinds of decorative things that were blue in the main area as you entered the house," says Amos, who lives in Westchester. "She was always dressed to the nines and loved entertaining. The door to her house in Sag Harbor was always open."

Amos, whose family’s longtime second home is in Azurest, says a big event in SANS was Parks’ hourslong Southern brunches on Sundays.

"She would have fried chicken, grits and eggs, and because the house was near the water someone would invariably bring some porgies or some other fish to fry … people would just bring a ham," Amos says. "This probably happened in the 1960s. She was very active until her 80s."

Bunton says it was fun to be regaled with Parks' stories. The accounts gave him a deep appreciation for the former property owner and where she lived, Bunton says.

Building the house, he says, "is something we’re super proud of and love the way it came together."

After Turner was shown photographs of the house the Buntons built, she says, referring to Parks, "I suspect she would have loved it."

The home is available to rent February through April for $20,000 a month, May for $30,000, June for $45,000, July for $90,000, and Memorial Day through July 31 for $135,000.