Sag Harbor, sub-titled An Old Story, is an 1899 comedy, the last play written by American author James Herne.

The play is a rural comedy, with two brothers competing for the same girl, and an older widower wooing a shy spinster.

The play avoids melodrama, emphasising the realistic nature of its characters, though as one critic pointed out they occasionally do unreal things.

[3] The play was produced by Liebler & Company, with staging by the author, and sets by Gates and Morange and Ernest Albert.

Its performance started with an extensive tour beginning October 1899[4] that was cut short in April 1900 when James Herne fell ill.[5] When it did arrive on Broadway in late September 1900, critical appreciation was mixed; while the characterisations were praised the dramatic action was not,[6] and some reviewers thought Herne had handled the same themes better in Shore Acres (1892).

Act III (Living room of William Turner's house; a Saturday night in April 1897) Martha and Ben are married and now have a baby girl.

Act IV (Same location; Easter Sunday, the next day) Elizabeth is holding Martha's baby when Dan enters, still not knowing his wife is expecting.

And Elizabeth finally tells Dan her news... (Curtain) James Herne spent the summer of 1899 in Sag Harbor, getting to know the locals and writing the play.

[14] William Hodge was discovered by James Herne as a bit player in a Rogers Brothers' musical comedy, "a thirty-five dollar a week man".

[14] By early September 1899 Gates and Morange had submitted models to Liebler & Company for approval before starting construction on the full-size sets.

[2] After further stops in New England, the production moved to Chicago for a four-week engagement at the Grand Opera House starting March 19, 1900.

[3] James Herne fell ill in late March and was replaced for a few performances by Frank Monroe, until the tour was cut short on April 7, 1900.

[21] The reviewer noted the play's strengths and audience enthusiasm and predicted success for the work despite the unnaturalness of the main storyline.

[4] The review appearing in the Chicago Tribune five months into the tour suggests Herne had made no changes to the play, for it pointed up exactly the same failing as had the Boston critics.

"[3] After a six-month hiatus, the play premiered on Broadway on September 27, 1900, for the grand opening of Oscar Hammerstein I's Theatre Republic.

[23] The New York Times reviewer spent much of their column on the new theater's decor, and opening night events such as speeches by James Herne and Oscar Hammerstein.

[6] The same reviewer found the acting "admirable", bestowing special praise on Julie Herne and William Hodge.

[6] The Brooklyn Citizen drama critic said of Sag Harbor that "Mr. Herne has not developed this slight plot in a very convincing manner" and that it lacked the "dramatic strength" of Shore Acres, but he had succeeded "in evolving an original and interesting atmosphere study".

[7] William Raymond Sill in The Evening World had caustic views on the play and the new theater: "Both have done wonderfully well in most respects, but Oscar Hammerstein has built some atrocious entrances to his new playhouse, while James A. Herne has builded some very faulty dramatic situations".

The tour continued with George Woodward as his replacement,[fn 4] finishing up at the Grand Opera House in Helena, Montana on June 14, 1901.