The history of Otter Pond in Sag Harbor goes back for centuries when the freshwater pond housed a large population of otters. During the first decades of the 18th century, John Jermain acquired the rights to dig an inlet to connect the Upper Cove to the pond and build a bridge. 

Therefore, the pond got filled with saltwater and, along with the tears of a lonely, gorgeous girl Amelia Ford Wentworth. In 1924, Amelia was married to Derick, known as Dick, who had moved their young family to Sag Harbor, New York to find his fortune.

Dick was a carpenter by trade, and he looked to work in the construction business. He had overlooked the fact that a scarcity of wood would result in more homes being moved rather than being built. Dick's broad shoulders attracted a wealthy widow from New York City, who left one month's rent, a simple note, and his incisor on the kitchen table before disappearing, leaving his new bride to fend for herself.

She took a small room with a shared bathroom that had a view of the changing estuary at Miss Annie’s Boarding House, which was located across the street from the pond. Without an appetite of her own, she shared her cornbread each morning with the ducks and swans. While searching for work in town as a pretty, jilted stranger, Amelia noticed a notice on the Antheneum Theater's noticeboard, which sat on the corner of Sage Street and Church Street. A dancer was needed.

As a solitary woman in a village controlled by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union without a job, a family or friends, Amelia made the last stop in town and made her way to Miss Annie's. On Christmas Eve, it was. She had the bath all to herself because the other girls were out. He drew her a bath so hot that she could not stand it. 

Getting out of the tub, Amelia put on some clothes and journeyed to this mysterious vision. A glowing Christmas tree occupied a small boat in the middle of Otter Pond. Amelia asked why Captain McCoy was helping her come on board when he pulled up to the shore and helped her board the boat. Regardless, he believed that if Dutch Schultz could smuggle rum past him, then Mrs. Russell Sage might be able to smuggle a tree past him.

In that night he promised, “There is no room for Dicks in my town; only the real McCoy, and there will be a Christmas tree lit in the middle of Otter Pond to give hope to those with little hope, and no more saltwater tears shall be shed. . . “Now let’s go smuggle some otters back in this pond.”


Ellis Carpet Cleaning Sag Harbor

Read More: Foster Memorial Beach




Call Us on (631) 780-3100
Tap to Call