Famed Author John Steinbeck's Home Hits Market In Sag Harbor

SAG HARBOR, NY — The Sag Harbor home where famed author John Steinbeck wrote his last book, "The Winter of Our Discontent" has hit the market — and the community is coming together to try and save the property for posterity.

According to the New York Times, the waterfront cottage, which Steinbeck reportedly called his "little fishing place," is on the market for the first time in more than 60 years, listed with Sotheby's International Realty at $17.9 million.

And now the community has come together to try and save the home and keep his legacy on the East End intact. A petition, "Save John Steinbeck's Home," has garnered 10,770 signatures so far.

Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in 1962 while he was living in Sag Harbor, the petition to local elected officials, which was created by Canio's Books, said.

"His modest home and writing studio is now for sale," the petition said. "If any property in Sag Harbor and on the East End needs to be preserved, it's Steinbeck's home."

Steinbeck, the petition said, wrote "The Winter of Our Discontent" about a fictional bayside community, very much like Sag Harbor, in his writing studio, Joyous Garde.

"Unlike a lot of writers in the village who keep anonymous, Steinbeck immersed himself in the community. He started the modern-day Whalers' Festival, was a familar face up and down Main Street, and a friend to many," the petition said.

Those who want to preserve the home pointed to communities around the country that have preserved the homes of renowned authors, including Emily Dickinson in Amherst, Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Langston Hughes in New York City, Herman Melville in Pittsfield, MA, and others.

Elected officials, the petition said, "must preserve this jewel in its literary crown. How many communities have had a Nobel Prize-winning author living in and integral to their life?"

Officials have made strides in recent years to honor Steinbeck in Sag Harbor.

In 2019, after four years of planning, work on a waterfront park in Sag Harbor to honor literary giant Steinbeck began.

Southampton Town formally transferred management of the operation of Steinbeck Waterfront Park to Sag Harbor Village. The parcel was acquired by Southampton Town with Community Preservation Funds.

According to town officials, the 2019 ceremony capped "an effort, reaching back almost a generation, to save from condominium development one of the last remaining waterfront parcels in downtown Sag Harbor."

The new park will be linked with the existing Windmill Park and an updated Long Wharf, "forming a major interconnected and integrated waterfront amenity at the center of village life," town officials said, with the goal of serving both residents and tourists.

"The Town of Southampton is proud to partner with the Village of Sag Harbor to create this new waterfront park," Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. "Steinbeck Park will enhance the village experience for everyone and honor a great American author who cherished Sag Harbor."

Steinbeck, officials said, lived in Sag Harbor for the last 16 years of his life and was "deeply involved" in the village, instrumental in the creation of the windmill on Long Wharf and the beloved "Harborfest" event. Steinbeck was the author of 27 books and 16 novels, including "The Grapes of Wrath" — and wrote at least two while living in Sag Harbor, including "The Winter of Our Discontent" and "Travels with Charlie", which mentioned his Sag Harbor Home.

Steinbeck died in 1968.