Vanderbilt Invites Veterans, Active Military as Guests
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum will thank veterans and active military personnel for their extraordinary service by inviting them as guests on Veterans Weekend, Saturday-Monday, November 9-11. Sponsored by Northwell Health.
As it does each year, the Museum will offer free admission to them and their families. (Veterans’ proof of military service, or active-duty military ID required for complimentary guest admission.)
“The men and women of our armed forces make remarkable sacrifices when they serve and defend our country,” said Executive Director Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan. “We’re grateful to them – and proud to invite them to be our guests.”
The Vanderbilt offers this courtesy to active-duty service members and their families as part of its year-round extension of the summer-season national Blue Star Museums program.
The Vanderbilt salutes veterans and active military personnel in honor of the Vanderbilt family’s 132-year participation in U.S. military history – from the War of 1812 through World War II. William K. Vanderbilt II (1878-1944), an accomplished sailor and yachtsman, served in the Navy during World War I and later was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the destruction of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought Vanderbilt’s support to help defend the nation. Vanderbilt gave his 264-foot yacht Alva to the Navy, which converted it to a gunboat, the USS Plymouth. In 1941, the U.S. government purchased Vanderbilt’s Sikorsky amphibious plane for wartime duty.
(The Plymouth was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat on August 4, 1943. Before the war, Vanderbilt moored the Alva near the mansion, in Northport Bay.)
Historian Explores the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge, in 3D
Jeffrey I. Richman will give a narrated slideshow, Building the Brooklyn Bridge, at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum on Thursday, November 21, at 7:00 pm – in the Reichert Planetarium. He will include many one-of-a-kind 3D images of the bridge as it was being built, projected onto the planetarium dome. All attendees will receive 3D glasses free of charge to help them enjoy this unique experience.
Drawing from his book, Building the Brooklyn Bridge, 1869-1883: An Illustrated History With Images in 3D (Bauer and Dean Publishers, 2021), he will tell the story of how an awe-inspiring structure of unprecedented size and technology was built over one of the busiest waterways in the world. His book received the 2021 Book Award from The Victorian Society New York.
“Based on my years of collecting early photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge being built,” he said, “and my good fortune in being able to reach out to other collectors who generously offered me use of their one-of-a kind images, I was able to create a book of great visual power. These images show this wonderful icon as it was being built in a way that it had never been seen before—and much of it in 3D!”
Richman will describe the bridge in engaging detail and explain the challenges of construction, from foundations to massive cables to elegant towers. The bridge was a thoroughly modern and groundbreaking engineering marvel – in its use of new materials (steel) and pioneering construction techniques (pneumatic caissons). Designated the eighth wonder of the world soon after its completion, the bridge was named a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
“Building the Brooklyn Bridge is a perfect feast, a would-be time-traveler’s delight, overflowing with rare, evocative, and fascinating images.” –Kurt Andersen, bestselling author, journalist, host of Studio 360 on public radio
In 2007, after thirty-three years of practicing law, representing indigent criminal defendants, Richman became the full-time historian at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. He is the author of three books, including Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery: New York’s Buried Treasure (1998). He has also curated many exhibitions, including three on the Civil War and one on Coney Island.
Quick Watercolor Portraits by Artist Sara Marie Martin
Have your portrait painted in watercolor by local artist Sara Marie Martin
Sunday, November 17, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Sunday, December 8, from 12:00 to 4:00 pm
Strike a pose! Your custom watercolor portrait will be painted within 10 minutes!
$20 per 5 x 7 (up to 4 people per painting)
Payable via cash or Venmo on site
*General Admission Required
Journey Through Space? Step Right This Way.
The Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium – with full-dome video, surround sound, and 197 comfortable new seats – will take you on enthralling, immersive journeys through the Solar System.
On Friday and Saturday nights, you can enjoy two amazing astronomy shows and very popular laser music shows.
The Planetarium offers great daytime programming for children and adults Friday through Sunday
On Friday from 9:00 to 10:00 pm, it’s FREE to observe the night sky in the Observatory (weather permitting).
Name a New Chair in the Reichert Planetarium
When you name a new chair in the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium chair, you support innovative planetarium education and entertainment programming.
Observe a milestone, honor a loved one, or name a chair for your family or organization.
Dedicate | Celebrate | Recognize | Memorialize
Your nameplate will remain in place for the life of the seat. (It does not reserve the use of the seat.)
Give a Unique Gift That Will Last a Lifetime
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 in your favorite brick walkway around the Vanderbilt Mansion and Terrace, or on the 43-acre grounds of the beautiful waterfront Estate.
For more information, email jaimie@vanderbiltmuseum.org.
‘Laser Taylor Swift’ Extended through December 29
Showings of the Vanderbilt Reichert Planetarium‘s wildly popular show, Laser Taylor Swift, have been extended again through December 29. If you were not able to see one of her shows on the Eras tour, Laser Taylor Swift is the next best thing!
With more than 200 million records sold, a shelf full of Grammys, and an army of fans, Taylor Swift is an inspiration for generations. This dynamic show takes her biggest hits and brings them to life in dazzling laser light.
Tickets: $18. (Free for Museum members.)
Setlist: You Need To Calm Down, Love Story, Anti-Hero Exile, Look What You Made Me Do, Willow, Lavender Haze, I Knew You Were Trouble, Blank Space, You Belong With Me, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Shake It Off.
‘Haunting Menagerie’, Museum’s First Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
Wendy Klemperer
On Earth Day, April 22, 2023, 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. Visitors will see large pieces visitors as they stroll the grounds of the Vanderbilt, one of the few remaining Long Island Gold Coast mansions. Smaller pieces suspended from trees wait to be discovered along the Vanderbilt’s hiking trail. Other works will be found near garden areas and the Marine Museum.
The Vanderbilt Museum occupies the former Gold Coast mansion and 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 the themes and content of Wendy Klemperer: Wrought Taxonomies will be offered throughout the exhibition. Special thanks are due to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, whose generous support made Wrought Taxonomies possible. The exhibition will run through April 2025.
Visitors are encouraged, during these weeks of mild autumn weather, to enjoy a picnic on the grounds.
Vanderbilt Wine Supports Education, Preservation
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has partnered with Old York Cellars to create a special selection of wines – your purchase will support the Museum’s preservation efforts and education programs.
Eagle’s Nest, the waterfront estate of William K. Vanderbilt II, is the home of the Vanderbilt Museum and Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium.
Help us preserve this vital piece of local and national history. STEM education programs are based on Vanderbilt’s marine, natural history, and cultural artifact collections. Educational planetarium offerings are provided to more than 25,000 schoolchildren each year. Please purchase wine today and support our mission.
