Coastal Playland: Developing the Long Island Sound
On Thursday, May 18, the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum will host Kara Murphy Schlichting, a noted historian of New York City’s environmental history, for an evening lecture on the history of the Long Island Sound as a place for urban recreation and leisure.
Schlichting’s lecture will draw heavily from her 2019 book New York Recentered: Building the Metropolis from the Shore (University of Chicago). In New York Recentered, Schlichting turns dominant narratives about New York City’s urban expansion on their head, focusing not on Robert Moses and grand-scheme planning but on the lesser-known local businesses, developers, and government officials whose efforts profoundly shaped coastal communities throughout the metropolitan region.
Schlichting will explore how, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s words, “the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western hemisphere” came to be dominated by public parks, beaches, and resorts for an emergent middle-class. It is a fascinating story that covers the rise of the Long Island State Parks Commission and the dissolution of the Gold Coast’s more dramatic estates.
The lecture will take place at 7:00 pm in the Museum’s Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium.
Support for the lecture series is generously provided by a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
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Kara Murphy Schlichting is an Associate Professor of History at Queens College, CUNY. She earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Her work in late-19th and 20th-century American History sits at the intersection of urban, environmental, and political history, with a particular focus on property regimes and regional planning in greater New York City. Schlichting has published in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of Planning History. Her book New York Recentered: Building the Metropolis from the Shore was published in 2019 with the University of Chicago Press’s History of Urban America Series. She is a co-editor of the H-Environment Roundtable Reviews.
Vanderbilt Welcomes EMS Workers as Guests
On Sunday, May 21, and Saturday, May 27, the Vanderbilt Museum will offer free general admission to EMS (emergency medical service) workers and their families. May 21-27 is National EMS Week. Sponsored by Northwell Health.
“We salute the brave men and women who make sacrifices and face danger every day to save lives,” said Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, executive director of the Vanderbilt.
“We’re offering free admission because these people live in our community and they provide essential services,” Wayland-Morgan said. “It’s difficult for their families, and a fun day at the Vanderbilt is one way to thank them.”
EMS workers will be asked for ID cards or proof of affiliation.
Brookhaven Lab at Vanderbilt: ‘Science in the Community’
Join scientists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Saturday, June 3 (9:30 am to 2:00 pm) as they discuss the wonders of the universe at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Reichert Planetarium. Take a turn with hands-on experiences that show the different weights in different planetary gravities, explore craters of the moon, and more! Plus, safe, solar telescope viewing, weather permitting.
The Vanderbilt Museum and grounds and Reichert Planetarium will open at 9:30 a.m. and admission will be FREE for all members of the public until 2 pm. Visitors will have access to the grounds as well as exhibits in the Vanderbilt Mansion and Marine Museum. Seating for the scientific talks and Planetarium shows require reservations. Click on the shows below to reserve your seat.
Click here to register for scientfic talks
10 a.m. “Comets, Asteroids and Near-Earth Objects.”
Scientist Steven Bellavia of Brookhaven Lab’s Collider-Accelerator Department will share a talk about the comets and asteroids (45 minutes).
11 a.m. “A Guide to Galactic Cosmic Rays: Studying Space Particles at Brookhaven National Lab.”
Scientist Trevor Olsen of Brookhaven Lab’s NASA Space Radiation Laboratory will speak about galactic cosmic rays (45 minutes).
Noon “The Vera Rubin Observatory: Legacy Survey of Space and Time.”
Scientist Steven Bellavia of Brookhaven Lab’s Collider-Accelerator Department will talk about the Vera Rubin observatory (45 minutes).
1 p.m. “The Far Side of the Moon: Probing the Unexplored Universe.”
Scientist Paul O’Connor of Brookhaven’s Lab Instrumentation Division will explain the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) project.
Arrizza Under the Stars: Live in the Planetarium
The Vanderbilt Museum will present Arrizza Under the Stars, a new, exclusive planetarium live performance by the Long Island artist and musician Yannaki Arrizza, on Saturday, May 20, at 6:00 pm in the Reichert Planetarium.
Based on his recent 2022 album release Astronomia, the music includes brilliant electronic soundscapes that combine digital and analog synthesizer sounds along with modern textures provided by the latest digital-audio technologies. Astronomia is reminiscent of the soundtrack for the popular Netflix original Stranger Things, combined with deeper experimentations in electronic and ambient realms similar to the popular synth sounds of the 1970s and early 1980s often heard in science-fiction films of the time – hopeful, mysterious, moody, and thought-provoking.
Arrizza’s music is a perfect complement to the spacey, visual landscapes the planetarium can provide with its cutting-edge fulldome video technology. Audiences can expect to be transported into immersive worlds and interstellar mediums that transcend space and time and where the only limit is the imagination. This live performance includes artistic landscapes, original fulldome 3D artwork, projections of star fields and deep-space objects, and includes colorful laser lights through a haze of fog.
This one-time performance is exclusive and can be seen only at the Reichert Planetarium. CDs and merchandise will be available for purchase.
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Dave Bush, Director of the Reichert Planetarium, said, “We are thrilled to be working with Yannaki. He is such a motivated and talented musician. His new album, Astronomia, is a perfect match for the planetarium. It has been so much fun creating and combining the images and lasers to go along with such an incredible piece of musical work. I have personally become a fan! The audience is in for an amazing experience.”
Yannaki Arrizza is from a diverse, multi-ethnic background in which art and music were abundant. He is a self-taught Latin/New Age/World guitarist and multi-instrumental artist based in Long Island, N.Y. He learned his craft during his formative years as a musician. His first love was the guitar, which grew out of listening to a variety of Latin American, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern music. He later built upon a repertoire of Spanish guitar combined with the sounds of New Age and Electronic music.
Eventually, Arrizza began to experiment with keyboards and synthesizers. With influences ranging from Yanni, Jean Michel Jarre, Kitaro, and Tangerine Dream, he created a unique combination of Spanish guitar and electronic instrumentations that would dominate his future releases. His synth-oriented music is described as chill Electronica with New Age instrumentation and sensibility combined with the otherworldly sounds and textures of science fiction.
“The Astronomia album was born out of my deep heartfelt love of space, a dedication to the sheer grandeur and beauty of the sacred cosmos. I am so excited to perform at the Reichert Planetarium and it is my wish is to share the experience with you all. The combination of my spacey, otherworldly selections and the cutting-edge fulldome video technology the planetarium provides will create an exclusive one-of-a-kind spectacle. It will dazzle the senses and create an excitement and wonder that will bring joy to one’s heart.”
– Yannaki Arrizza
Wrought Taxonomies: Museum’s First Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
Wendy Klemperer
On Earth Day, April 22, the Vanderbilt Museum debuted Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies, the first exhibition of outdoor sculpture at the historic summer estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II.
Wendy Klemperer’s sculptures—a haunting assemblage of animal forms that span imaginary, endangered, familiar, and exotic species—celebrate natural history and the nonhuman world through evocative interactions with the surrounding environment.
Using materials salvaged from scrapyards, she composes ecological narratives that respond to the history and collections of Suffolk County’s first public park and museum. Her brilliant use of gestural lines captures the spectator’s attention and invites museumgoers to reflect on the relationship between an interest in animal life and the incessant push of human industry.
Wrought Taxonomies is the inaugural exhibition in the Vanderbilt Museum’s outdoor sculpture program and the institution’s second exhibition of contemporary art focused on the relationship between culture and animals.
The Vanderbilt Museum occupies the former Gold Coast estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt and a pioneer of American motorsport. Located in Centerport on the north shore of Long Island, it is renowned for its extensive marine and natural history collections, Spanish revival architecture, and picturesque parklands.
All sculptures are viewable with general admission to the Museum grounds. Educational programs and workshops associated with themes and content of Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies will be offered throughout the exhibition. A special thanks is due to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, whose generous support made Wrought Taxonomies possible. The exhibition will run through April 22, 2024.
Bring Your Watercolors: Tour and Paint in the Hall of Fishes
Join us in the Hall of Fishes marine museum for a watercolor workshop for adults on Saturday, May 20, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. For ages 16 and up. Experience is not necessary. Paper and watercolor pencils will be provided. $20 | $18 non-members
A museum educator will discuss William K. Vanderbilt II’s global marine expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s and the work of his curator and artist William Belanske, who accompanied Vanderbilt and made small, intricately detailed paintings of many freshly collected marine specimens. Participants will sketch and paint from the collection.
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Classic Car Shows Honor Vanderbilt Racing Legacy
The Vanderbilt Museum has honored William K. Vanderbilt II’s automotive and racing legacy by hosting classic car shows on its grounds for more than three decades.
Five clubs have scheduled shows this year. The first will be Sunday, May 21. The others, held during the summer and fall, will display beautiful, restored vintage automobiles.
Visitors pay general admission to the museum; there is no extra charge for the car shows. Admission: adults $10; seniors (62 plus) $9; students (with ID) $9; children 12 and under $7; military and children under 2 are free.
All shows are held on Sundays. Hours: 11 am to 4 pm.
Coming up:
July 9 – Mustang Shelby Club of Long Island
Sept 10 – Jaguar Drivers of Long Island (rain date: Sept 18)
Oct 1 – Studebaker Drivers Club, Inc.
Oct 29 – Porsche Club of America, Inc.
Vanderbilt, a pioneer race driver who competed in Europe, brought auto racing to the United States. He inaugurated the famous Vanderbilt Cup Races in 1904. That same year, he set a new land-speed record of 92.3 miles per hour in a Mercedes at a course in Florida. He also spurred the development of the American auto industry and built the prototype for the first toll road, the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway on Long Island.
Native Plant Workshop: Hummingbird Stations
Dropseed Native Landscapes will offer a hands-on gardening workshop, Hummingbird Stations, at the Vanderbilt Museum on Sunday, May 21. Participants will be introduced to ecologically sound gardening practices that are important to bird and animal species.
Anthony Marinello of Dropseed Native Landscapes and the Long Island Native Plant Initiative will explore the local varieties of flowering shrubs and perennials that can be added to any garden to attract migrating nectar-feeders like Ruby-throated and Rufous Hummingbirds.
Individuals who attend Hummingbird Stations will get an in-depth introduction to ecologically sound gardening practices and the importance of native plant communities to our region. Long Island enjoys several unique biomes, including the only tall-grass prairie east of the Alleghany Mountains, as well as large tracts of marine grassland along its shore. These plant communities play an integral role in the lives of many native animal species, from invertebrates to mammals, by providing support for the entire food chain.
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Hummingbird Stations will focus on the contributions of native plants to avian biodiversity, specifically the five documented species of hummingbird recorded in New York, which arrive in Suffolk County towards the end of May. Dropseed Native Landscapes will explain the many steps we can take to ensure that the presence of these charismatic birds can be enjoyed for generations to come.
In addition to the educational program, workshop attendees reserve the right to purchase specialized native plant kits to be brought home on the day of the program. These kits will include plant varieties discussed in the workshop, as well as other native species to facilitate the transformation of your garden into an ecological oasis. All varieties discussed and distributed as part of “Hummingbird Station” will come in the form of plugs, which are already sprouted seedlings that are ready to be transplanted into your flower beds and begin the work of attracting hummingbirds.
Location: The “Hummingbird Station” workshop will take place on the grounds of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s Superintendent’s Cottage, which is located across the street from the main campus. Handicapped parking will be available for program participants.
Inquiries about the program or the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s commitment to horticultural education should be directed to info@vanderbiltmuseum.org. Other questions or requests, particularly those concerning plants native to the Long Island region and ecologically sound gardening, should be sent to anthony@dropseednativelandscapesli.com.
Annual Summer Shakespeare Festival Offers Four Plays
The Carriage House Players opened the Vanderbilt Museum’s 34th annual Summer Shakespeare Festival on May 5. The season’s four productions will take place on the stage in the Mansion’s Beautiful Spanish Revival Courtyard.
Tickets: adults, $20 | seniors & children under 12, $15
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Playbill:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
May 5, 12, 13, and 26 at 8:00 pm
May 7, 14, and 21 at 7:00 pm
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
June 4-30
Wed and Fri at 8:00 pm, Sun at 7:00 pm
Macbeth
July 7 – August 6
Wed and Fri at 8:00 pm, Sun at 7:00 pm
Love’s Labor’s Lost
August 11- Sept 8
Wed and Fri at 8:00 pm, Sun at 7:00 pm
Pop Up Prana Yoga: Planetarium Sessions
Pop Up Prana Yoga will offer back-to-back sessions of Yin & Restore Yoga on Sunday, May 28, at 5:30 and 7:00 pm in the Reichert Planetarium. The evening will “incorporate stillness and empowerment into your practice under the planetarium’s digital sky.”
Guest instructor Nick Vishanka will offer back-to-back, 60-minute yin and restore yoga sessions. This class will include a fusion of yin, restorative postures and mindful movement blended with relaxing asanas, and will conclude with a guided yoga nidra.
Space is limited, and early registration is recommended.
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Local Author Linda Trott Dickman to Read Her Book at Museum Event
The Vanderbilt Museum will present Picture Books & Poetry with Linda Trott Dickman on Sunday, May 21, at 6:00 pm in the Reichert Planetarium Theater. The event is for families with young children. Wear your favorite pajamas and settle in to hear lyrical stories about dreams.
Dickman, who has lived most of her life in East Northport, is an award-winning poet whose work has been anthologized locally and internationally. She is the author of four chapbooks and a poetry prompt book for children of all ages. The coordinator of poetry for the Northport Arts Coalition, she also works with poets of all ages at the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association and at local museums and leads a poetry workshop at Samantha’s Li’l Bit O’ Heaven coffee house. Dickman is a retired elementary school librarian.
Tickets: $10 | $8 for members
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Poet-Farmer Scott Chaskey Reflects on ‘Soil and Spirit’
On Thursday, June 1, the Vanderbilt Museum will host Scott Chaskey, poet-farmer and pioneer of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement, for a presentation of his latest memoir Soil and Spirit: Cultivation and Kinship in the Web of Life (Milkweed Editions, 2023).
As a farmer with decades spent working in the fields, Chaskey’s worldview has been shaped by daily attention to the earth. His career as a writer has been influenced by these experiences, showing a profound commitment to the promotion of food sovereignty and organic agriculture. In both writing and farming, his efforts have been animated by a central conviction—namely, that humble attention to microbial life provides us with invaluable lessons for building healthy human communities.
Soil and Spirit is a collection of personal essays, mapping the evolution of Chaskey’s thoughts on ecology, agriculture, and society through decisive moments in his biography. In its pages, he takes readers to his original homestead in Maine; the rugged Irish countryside, complete with blackberries, heather, and Nobel-Prize-winning poets; the ancient granite cliffs of the Cornwall coastline; Santa Clara, New Mexico, where he harvested amaranth seeds alongside a group of indigenous women; and finally, to Amagansett, in Suffolk County, where he recalls planting Redwood saplings and writing poetry beneath a centuries-old beech tree.
The lecture will take place at 7:00 pm in the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium. Tickets are available online at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s website. Support for the lecture series is generously provided by a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
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Scott Chaskey is the author of Soil and Spirit. He is also the author of a memoir, This Common Ground: Seasons on an Organic Farm, and a book of nonfiction, Seedtime: On the History, Husbandry, Politics, and Promise of Seeds. His poetry, first printed in literary journals in the early seventies, has been widely published over four decades.
A pioneer of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement, for thirty years he cultivated more than sixty crops for the Peconic Land Trust at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, New York, one of the original CSAs in the country. He is the past president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York and was honored as Farmer of the Year in 2013.
Chaskey was a founding board member for both the Center for Whole Communities, in Vermont, and Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, in Shelter Island, New York. He taught as a poet-in-the-schools for over two decades, and as an instructor for Antioch International and Friends World College in Southampton. He lives and works on the east end of Long Island, New York.
Come Explore Birds With Dr. Gabby Wild
Calling all ornithophiles! Join National Geographic Kids Educator Dr. Gabby Wild on Wednesday, June 28, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for a morning full of bird-related STEAM activities at the Vanderbilt Museum. Best suited for children in grades 3-5.
Children will learn about bird evolution, anatomy, and physiology; identify birds by sound and appearance; draw birds in the collection; and bird watch on the Vanderbilt Estate grounds!
Tickets: $30 guests | $27 members
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Wild, acclaimed for her role as “the veterinarian” on National Geographic Kid’s Animal Jam, the world’s largest online “playground” with 54 million players, she creates videos about conservation medicine.
A wildlife veterinarian, conservationist, and educator, she has traveled the world saving a variety of wildlife species from Sumatran rhinos to Belizean jaguars. Wild is certified in Chinese veterinary acupuncture and became the first elephant acupuncturist in the past 3,000 years.
When not in the wild, she works as a veterinary surgeon at the Animal Surgical Center and volunteers as a veterinarian with the Wildlife Conservation Society Health Program at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. She is the mother of four, she said, “two humans and two fur babies.”
New Show at Planetarium: ‘We Are Guardians’
The Reichert Planetarium has just premiered a new show, We Are Guardians. Audiences take a journey into, under, and around the many ecosystems across our planet. Ages 8 and up.
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We are all connected. Come and find out how.
Join us on a journey into, under, and around the many ecosystems across our planet. Discover how each component fits together, and how the health of each part is vital to the health of Planet Earth. Find out how, with the help of satellites and scientific study, we can understand the links between human activities and climate change, and what we can do to work together to improve the health of our shared home.
This visually stunning show is an immersive science film that features beautiful animation and creative storytelling that viewers of all ages can enjoy together.
Maggie’s Mission Gala Set for Vanderbilt Museum
Maggie’s Mission will hold its annual Glow for Gold Angelversary Gala at the Vanderbilt Museum on Friday, June 2, from 6:00 to 10:00 pm. The annual event honors and celebrates Long Island teenager Maggie Schmidt’s love of life and children. Maggie’s Mission raises funds to help find cures for pediatric cancers and to help families with children affected.
The evening will include a Maggie’s Bucket List parachute jump into the event, presented by longtime Maggie’s Mission supporter New York Community Bank, a division of Flagstar Bank, N.A.
This year’s gala will kick off with an item from Maggie’s bucket list – a skydive Jump with Mike Elliot, a retired U.S. Army Golden Knight. (The Knights are the Army’s official aerial parachute demonstration team.) Elliot, who took the late President George H. W. Bush on three tandem jumps, will accompany Maggie’s mom, Donna, for a jump right into the gala. The jump will honor Maggie’s wish to Skydive. Maggie’s bucket list was found in a notebook shortly after she passed away from malignant rhabdoid tumors, a rare and aggressive cancer with a very poor prognosis.
The event’s “glow” theme is borrowed from Maggie’s Sweet 16 party which was, at her request, a “glow” party. It was Maggie’s last healthy and happy birthday. The evening will feature music, dinner, dancing, an open bar, exclusive silent auction items, and raffles.
All year, and especially in June, Maggie’s Mission goes gold (the official color that represents pediatric cancers) to help researchers at MSK Kids from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center develop new treatments and new hope for children with cancer. For more information, visit maggiesmission.org.
Summer Science Fun for Children, Grades K-5
Fascinating, fun summer learning for grades K-5! Vanderbilt Museum science educators will offer Junior Explorer and Astronomer workshops for children in two, week-long sessions in July and August. Sail the seas, dive the oceans, make unique art. Advance registration is required.
Summer Science Fun
July 10-14 or August 14-18
9 am – 12 pm
$200 non-members | $180 members
Interested in membership? Learn more here.
Become a Member
Space is limited and spots fill quickly! Advance registration is required.
For more information and to register, please contact dawn@vanderbilltmuseum.org.
Junior Explorer Workshop Grades K-3
Explore the world at the Vanderbilt Museum!
Join us for a week of creative science and history workshops. We’ll sail the seas, dive the deepest oceans, soar among the tallest trees, and make unique art inspired by nature and the collections.
Registration is open for children entering Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Register JULY Jr Explorer Workshop Register AUGUST Jr Explorer Workshop
Junior Astronomer Workshop Grades 3-5
The Reichert Planetarium presents an exciting program for young astronomers!
Junior Astronomers have the opportunity to learn about multiple astronomy topics including our solar system, how to use a telescope, and how to identify constellations they can see from their own backyard. This program focuses on hands-on learning with STEAM activities and crafts supplemented by immersive live and pre-recorded fulldome presentations in our Planetarium theater.
Registration is open for children entering 3rd through 5th grade.
Register JULY Jr Astronomer Workshop Register AUGUST Jr Astronomer Workshop
The July and August sessions of each workshop will feature the same activities.
For this reason, we recommend against registering a child for the same workshop twice.
Alex Torres and His Latin Orchestra Return for 16th Summer!
Alex Torres and His Latin Orchestra will bring music, dancing, and romance to the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum on Friday, August 4, from 6:00 to 10:00 pm – rain or shine. The acclaimed musicians – in their 16th appearance at the Vanderbilt – will perform on the outdoor stage in the Vanderbilt Mansion’s Spanish Revival courtyard overlooking Northport Bay.
Table reservations and location preferences will be available only for groups of 10 or more. (One payment per table reservation, online only.) If you would like to reserve a table location, please call Lisha Schlaich at 631-203-6788 only after the reservation is complete. Groups of fewer than 10 cannot reserve tables. Groups of any size with individual tickets cannot reserve tables, even after tickets are purchased. Seating for individuals is on a first-come, first-served basis.
This is a benefit for the museum, so we regret that tickets are non-refundable.
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The Mansion Courtyard offers a romantic atmosphere and is the perfect setting for an enchanted evening of music and dancing. The Estate grounds open at 6:00, and the performance begins at 7:00.
Guests are encouraged to bring a picnic dinner, wine, beer, and soft drinks will be available for purchase.
These renowned musicians and recording artists have performed before many sold-out Vanderbilt audiences and received rave reviews.
Alex Torres and his orchestra have performed their original blend of Afro-Caribbean rhythms – including salsa, merengue, cha-cha, bomba, plena, and Latin jazz – throughout North and South America. They have released many critically acclaimed CDs.
The orchestra has shared the stage and billings with such major acts as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Andy Montañez, Los Hermanos Moreno, Arturo Sandoval, Ray Barretto, Jane Burnette & The Spirits of Havana, King Changó, Arrested Development, Branford Marsalis, and Count Basie and Woody Herman.
Visit alextorres.com
Paved with Love: A Gift That Lasts Forever
Looking for a fresh, unique, everlasting gift for a loved one?
Purchase and engrave a brick that will become a permanent part of the Vanderbilt Museum.
Your donation will help the Vanderbilt to bring outstanding science, history, and art education to more than 25,000 students annually.
Your brick will be installed and displayed installed in your favorite brick walkway around the Vanderbilt Mansion and Terrace, or on the 43-acre grounds of the beautiful waterfront Estate.
Purchase a Brick
For more information, email: madison@vanderbiltmuseum.org
