Nancy (Boyd) Willey

File:WilleyHouse 002.jpg, Minneapolis]]

Nancy was born in Southampton, and grew up in Park Slope. Her mother, Annie Cooper Boyd, is a painter of the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art style. Her family has lived in Sag Harbor for generations, her grandfather was William Cooper, a prosperous boatbuilder and son of a Whaler. Nancy graduated from Barnard College in New York City with a degree in sociology. There she met her future husband, (Dr.)Malcolm Macdonald Willey. They married in 1924.{{cite web|title=thewilleyhouse.com/about|url=http://www.thewilleyhouse.com/biography/|website=thewilleyhouse.com/|publisher=FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, 1934|accessdate=30 December 2020}} In 1932 the Willey's, a young, relatively middle-class family, responded to Architect Frank Lloyd Wrights published autobiography by writing to his publisher and requesting a meeting. Nancy wanted to build a house for eight thousand dollars and was seeking a like mind to design the house. While she did not think he would accept the commission, Wright accepted as she was his first paying client, following a dearth of commissions during the Great Depression. The first home scheme of the Malcolm Willey House was rejected by Nancy as too expensive at seventeen thousand ($299,216.30 in 2020). Wright went back to the drawing board, ultimately creating what was the first 'art home', a design copied across the Midwest as a middle class house and thereby securing his reputation as the greatest living American architect.Lewis Mumford “At Home, Indoors and Out.” The New Yorker, February 12, 1938 The Willey house was in danger of demolition until it was restored in 2002 and placed on the NRHP. The house was progenitor to tens of thousands of cheap copies, which spawned a housing boom in the great plains after the deprivations of the Dust Bowl era.{{cite web|url=https://franklloydwright.org/willey-house-part-13-the-plow-that-broke-the-plains/|title=Willey House Stories Part 13 - The Plow that Broke the Plains | Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation|website=franklloydwright.org|date=3 May 2019 |accessdate=31 December 2020}} It was Wright's template for Usonia, which is now known as the AMERICAN RANCH Style House, which, partly due to the enthusiasm of Nancy Willey, that spark of creativity lit the way for his final period of architectural triumphs.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

File:Annie Boyd Cooper Cottage 20201004 092521.jpg

She was a consummate letter writer during the 1940s,{{cite web|url=http://link.livebrary.com/portal/Correspondence-between-Nancy-Boyd-Willey-and/ZFcGm4JZGTk/|title=[Correspondence between Nancy Boyd Willey and Morton Pennypacker : regarding Willey's forthcoming book about Sag Harbor, N.Y., and the homes and lives of two prominent Revolutionary War residents, Captains William Havens and John Hulbert] - Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York|website=link.livebrary.com|accessdate=31 December 2020}} spending summers at the cottage in Sag harbor.Willey House Stories Part 8 – A Rug Plan | Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation The Sag Harbor Historical Museum has over 1,000 pieces of Nancy Willey correspondence, she embarked on writing the history of the Sag Whalers, which was published in 1949. While there, she and Josephine Bassett decided to save the old Custom House from demolition, and succeeded in moving the structure to Main Street, where it was placed on the NRHP. It was one of the accomplishments of Nancy Boyd Willey in Sag Harbor, the other was the establishment of the Sag Harbor Historic District. She also was instrumental in the creation of the Village's Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board, its historical purview was to protect the unique architectural history of Sag Harbor.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In 1954 Nancy and Malcolm divorced, and she moved back to New York. In 1965 she retired to the cottage at 174 Main street in the village.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

She created the Old Sagg-Harbor committee, a collection of environmentalists and preservationists dedicated to protect the views of Sag that her mother had painted. A spin off, the Sag Harbor Conservation and Planning Alliance (CAPA), worked on environmental conservation issues.{{Cite web|title=Sag Harbor tries to preserve the past|

url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/08/archives/sag-harbor-tries-to-preserve-the-past-while-welcoming-the-future.html|first=Dennis|last=Starin|date=8 July 1973|publisher=NY Times|accessdate=30 December 2020}} The Little Northwest Creek was being eyed for development and in 1974 they were able to get the town board to acquire the property. Other groups, modeled after hers, have taken to advocating for Sag harbors historical preservation and environmentalism.{{cite web|url=https://savesagharbor.com/residentialdistrict|title=Potowski Av.|website=Save Sag Harbor|accessdate=31 December 2020}}

When she died her will provided that the Annie Boyd Cooper house would transfer to the Sag Harbor Historical Museum. The Annie Cooper Boyd House was the foundation of the Old Sagg-Harbour Committee, also the environmental group Sag Harbor Conservation and Planning Alliance (CAPA). This ecological conservation group saved Little Northwest Creek and wetlands from developers, and worked to preserve Barcelona Neck, home of the Grace Estate.{{cite web|url=https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/long-island-grace-estate/|website=nature.org|title=Grace Estate|accessdate=31 December 2020}} Other successful exploits in conservation include the Trout Pond nature habitat{{cite web|url=https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/24200.html|title=Trout Pond - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation|website=dec.ny.gov|accessdate=31 December 2020}} and the nature trails in the Long Pond Greenbelt.{{cite web|url=https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/new-york/long-pond-greenbelt-trail|title=Long Pond Greenbelt Trail - New York|website=alltrails.com|accessdate=31 December 2020}}

File:Long pond greenbelt rules 20200829 102145.jpg

• Northwest Alliance - Nature preservationists
• Van Scoy Burial Ground Northwest Harbor

{{Reflist}}

• THE STORY OF SAG HARBOR Pamphlet – January 1, 1949 [https://www.amazon.com/STORY-HARBOR-Nancy-Boyd-Willey/dp/B0011VKCFU]
• Documentary - “The Plow That Broke The Plains” film by Pare Lorentz, 1936.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGqze3r9di4|title=Plow that Broke the Plains (1936)|website=YouTube|accessdate=31 December 2020}}

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Category:Historic preservation organizations

Category:American environmentalists

Category:American women environmentalists

New York

Category:History of New York (state)

Category:1902 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:20th-century American women

Category:Historical preservationists