Jean Held Remembered for Her Love of History and Nature in Sag Harbor

Jean Held, one of Sag Harbor’s most unique figures, who absolutely loved the village and its rich history, died last week at age 87. Held lived alone, so a neighbor found her and the exact cause and time of death has not yet been determined.

An integral part of the Sag Harbor Historical Society for many years, and former board member, Held was well known in local circles for her untold contributions to it, such as creating the museum’s monthly newsletter, “The Sentinel,” and more than a dozen exhibitions, including explorations into Trout Pond, Long Wharf, Sag Harbor’s LIRR hub and Long Beach, among others, which she helped illuminate with her own graphic design for the displays.

Held even took a young, sixth grader from East Hampton under her wing, welcoming him as a docent at the museum’s William Cooper boathouse and helping him create an exhibit about immigration when he was 17 years old and in high school at the Annie Cooper Boyd House, which was like her second home for many years.

For about two years starting in 2017, Held enjoyed hunting for artifacts that came up in some 8,500 cubic yards of dredge spoil pulled up around Long Wharf that eventually made their way onto Havens beach, where she spent hours beachcombing in search of these historic “treasures,” such as hand-forged nails, old coins, bones, musket balls, 200 year-old pottery shards, flat wear and the like, and put them on display at the museum.

She was known to have a vibrance and curiosity that could make her seem younger than her years, especially as she rode her bicycle around town, taking pictures, watching birds and enjoying nature. Held also worked with the South Fork Natural History Museum on their newsletter and was intimately familiar with the Long Pond Greenbelt, an area of wetlands, ponds and wildlife accessible from the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

Some might remember the famous green frog costume she’d don, complete with large headpiece, in support of the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt at HarborFest each year.

A former New York City and Hawaii resident, Held worked in the art departments of Time Life Books and Fortune magazine, and made sets at the Gateway Theater in Bellport, before she came to Sag Harbor in the early 1970s with her then-husband George Held. Her marriage to George eventually came to an end, but her love of Sag Harbor endured, and she made it her permanent home. And she got to know and understand the village naturally and historically in ways few people do.

Held did not have children, but she had been spending time getting her affairs in order in recent years. She will be deeply missed by the many lives she touched, of all ages, across multiple generations, and she will be remembered as a force of nature, a conversationalist, an inquisitive soul and a true friend.

Her friends say they are hoping to put together a memorial service in Jean Held’s honor, but nothing specific has been planned at this time.