Purchasing Steinbeck House

Elaine Steinbeck’s heirs placed Steinbeck House on the market in 2021. Kathryn Szoka, a co-owner of Canio’s Books, realized how important it would be to preserve the home for the public to access and to use as a writers’ retreat. After creating an online petition which collected over 32,000 signatures calling for the preservation of John and Elaine Steinbeck’s Sag Harbor home, she approached April Gornik and Susan Mead, members of the Sag Harbor Partnership Board (SHP) about joining the preservation effort. Szoka also recruited Colson Whitehead as Honorary Chair of the capital campaign and John Avlon, both Sag Harbor residents.

Simultaneously, SHP conducted a search for a university who shared the vision of preserving the property and operating a writers’ retreat in this iconic space. SHP board member Diana Howard recruited The University of Texas’s Michener Center for Writers to lease the property and to create a writers’ retreat at Steinbeck House. The Michener Center is a fitting partner for this project: The Michener Center already operates a world-class writing center, so it has the expertise to create the caliber of writers’ retreat called for by this space; the Harry Ransom Center located at UT’s Austin campus has a collection of Steinbeck’s papers; and Elaine Steinbeck and many of her heirs attended UT.

SHP’s board enthusiastically approved the effort to purchase Steinbeck House as a priority project and began fundraising in late 2021. After over a year of intense fundraising to save the property, and several price reductions, with substantial help from local and state governments, and with the generous support of Sag Harbor and East End donors, including the property’s immediate neighbors, the Sag Harbor Partnership closed on the property on March 30, 2023.

SHP expresses special thanks to Assemblyman Fred Thiele whose guidance and support resulted in a substantial New York State grant, which served to galvanize our efforts. Southampton Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni provided invaluable assistance in championing this preservation vision to many key constituencies as well as Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and the other members of the Town Council who all recognized this unique opportunity and awarded decisive support via their Community Preservation Fund.

Now that the property has been preserved, it will be the home of a writers’ residency program run by The University of Texas’s Michener Center for Writers. It will also be available by reservation for public viewing.

About the Sag Harbor Partnership

In 2012, a group of volunteers banded together to create the Sag Harbor Partnership, a 501(c)3. These volunteers represent a cross section of Sag Harbor's communities and share a love for the village and a desire to ensure its future sustainability and prosperity.

Sag Harbor Partnership actively fundraises and works with community organizations, the Towns of Southampton and East Hampton, and the Sag Harbor Village government on projects that both preserve and enhance the character of this vibrant place.

A list of recent projects includes fundraising for the Sag Harbor Volunteer Fire Department's new fire boat, supporting the creation of Steinbeck Park, the Sag Harbor water quality initiative, supporting the nomination of SANS to the National Register of Historic Places, and buying and rebuilding the Sag Harbor Cinema. It also helped to fund Mashashimuet Park's new playground and the reroofing of the park’s historic grandstand, and to underwrite village initiatives such as new bike racks for Main Street, the Covid mask project, and historic walking tours of Sag Harbor.