Annie Cooper Boyd (1864-1941) is remembered as an artist and diarist. Born in Sag Harbor to William Huntting Cooper (1816-1894) and Nancy Burnham Beckwith Cooper (1821-1904), she was the youngest of 11 and developed a love for art at a young age.
Growing up in Sag Harbor, she was often outdoors with her siblings, sailing, horseback riding, and swimming. This love of the outdoors is reflected in her art, which often depicts such scenes, especially throughout Sag Harbor. Boyd used a variety of mediums for her paintings, including cardboard, cardstock, and even wooden parts of her cottage, where she painted local landmarks on pantry doors.
While most of Boyd’s training was informal, she attended William Merritt Chase’s Shinnecock Summer School of Art in Southampton in 1896. The school offered painting en plein air, one of the first professional art schools in the United States to do so. Chase lived from 1849 to 1916, and the school operated from 1891 to 1902, closing after the headmaster resigned.
The painting seen here depicts the Old Whalers Church, or the First Presbyterian Church of Sag Harbor, at night, with a wide front lawn. It is dated Sept. 21, 1938, which is significant since that is the day the Hurricane of 1938 hit the East End of Long Island, destroying the church’s 185-foot steeple. The date suggests Boyd was painting this image during the hurricane, which did coincide with a full moon, as she depicted in the night sky.
After Boyd’s death in 1941, her daughter, Nancy Boyd Willey, inherited her Main Street cottage. Willey later became known for her work preserving Sag Harbor’s history and saving historic buildings from demolition. When she died, she left the cottage to the Sag Harbor Historical Society, and it now serves as the headquarters of the Sag Harbor Historical Museum.
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Kristen Ahearn is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
