Vanderbilt Museum Begins Celebrating Centennial Year on Gold Coast

In May 1910, William K. Vanderbilt II Bought 20 Acres above Northport Harbor and Began Building His Famous Summer Estate

Summer Programs: Shakespeare, Latin Orchestra, Independence Festival, Wizard University for Kids, Living History Tours

A century ago, explorer, adventurer and railroad heir William K. Vanderbilt II found a beautiful rolling hillside on Little Neck above Northport Harbor. He bought 20 acres of that hill on May 27, 1910, and hired a famous architect to design and build a bachelor's bungalow, a long wharf and the foundation for a boathouse. Vanderbilt's "cottage," expanded over the years, was the beginning of one of the grand, historic Long Island Gold Coast estates, which he called "Eagles' Nest."

This summer, the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum is celebrating the centennial of its beginnings. The agenda includes an Independence Festival on July 4, performances of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in the mansion courtyard, a night of dancing to Alex Torres and his Latin Orchestra, the mystery, adventure and fun of Wizard University, a July-August program for kids 6-12, and weekend Living History Tours of the mansion. (All program details to be announced.)

Carol Ghiorsi Hart, executive director of the museum, said that although the past few years have been difficult for museums and other non-profit institutions, including the Vanderbilt, the future looks brighter. "We're seeing more visitors and a steady flow of school field trips," she said. "The improving economy is helping all museums and attractions on Long Island. People are still staying closer to home and they want to find fun, local outings for their families. We're looking forward to a very good summer."

The Vanderbilt— built in three stages from 1910 until 1936—is a unique combination of historic estate and mansion, marine and natural-history museum, planetarium and park. Eagles' Nest, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and home to the Vanderbilt Museum, annually welcomes 100,000 visitors and 50,000 schoolchildren.

Hart noted that the Vanderbilt receives strong capital-program support from Suffolk County and is in the process of acquiring a new star projector for its planetarium. (The current projector was installed when the planetarium opened 40 years ago.) The museum is an active member of Gold Coast Mansions–Historic Long Island, a new organization that promotes tourism to prominent north shore estates. The Vanderbilt's dedicated corps of volunteer docents, guides and gardeners enhances the experience of visitors to the mansion and estate, a "living" museum of the country life of the privileged in the early decades of the twentieth century.

Suffolk County acquired the museum in 1947 and opened it to the public in 1950. Vanderbilt's 24-room Spanish Revival mansion was designed by the New York architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore, whose Grand Central Terminal in New York City (1903-13) was designed and built for the New York Central Railroad, one of several Vanderbilt family enterprises. Later additions to the mansion and other estate buildings were executed by the architect Ronald H. Pearce.

The Vanderbilt Planetarium, with its domed 60-foot Sky Theater, opened in 1971. It is the largest facility of its kind on Long Island. The 43-acre museum complex counts among its collections the Gold Coast-era mansion, a marine museum, natural-history habitats, curator's cottage, seaplane hangar, boathouse and marine and natural-history specimens, house furnishings and fine art, photographs and archives, and an extensive collection of ethnographic objects that comprise the estate of William K. Vanderbilt II.