Sag Harbor became a United States port of entry in 1789 with a growing population involved in servicing whalers, coasters, and West Indian trade ships. Henry Packer Dering, one of Sag Harbor’s first United States custom officers, acquired the property in the early 1790s. The house was originally located at the corner of Union and Church Streets before moving to its current site in 1948 by the Old Sagg-Harbour Committee in order to save it from demolition. In 1966, Preservation Long Island (formerly the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities) acquired the property. Today, it is interpreted to reflect the work and daily activities of Dering, his wife, and nine children.