Historic Sagaponack Hearthstone Inn Destroyed in Blaze [PHOTOS]
By Brendan J. O’Reilly
4 minute09/16/2014Share
“It’s devastating,” says Julie Greene of the Bridgehampton Museum. “It’s hugely historic.”
Greene is responding to the news that a Sagaponack residence, which was once the Hearthstone Inn, was destroyed Monday morning in a fire.
The Bridgehampton Fire Department responded to 850 Sagg Main Street shortly before 6 a.m. Monday and found the house engulfed in flame. Sag Harbor and East Hampton fire departments were called in to lend a hand and the fire was extinguished without incident or injury, according to fire officials.
According to the historic register nomination for the Sagaponack Historic District, the timber-frame two-story gable-roof residence was most recently known as the Pierson-Smith House.
The Piersons are one of the founding families of Sagaponack and those who resided at the house included Jesse Pierson, who was party to the New York State Supreme Court case Pierson v. Post, and Captain David Pierson. At the turn of the 20th century, it was the summer home of architect James Henry Devereaux.
It later became the Hearthstone Inn. It continued as an inn until 1962, when it was purchased by the Robb family as a summer residence, according to the historic registry.
The structure of the residence was thought to be unaltered since at least 1923, with the possible exception of the front porch being extended to wrap around the south side of the house.
“It hurts, all these houses—we’ve had a lot of fires this summer,” Greene says.
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