The Night at the Rogers Mansion

On Thursday August 25th between the hours of 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm the Rotary Club of Southampton hosted “The Night at the Rogers Mansion.” It was an event to help support The Southampton History Museum.

With a lively open bar along with very tasty hors d’oeuvres, tours were given of the Rogers Mansion Museum grounds and new exhibits. There were lots of interested folks poking their heads into the historic display buildings or taking the guided tours. If one hasn’t visited this landmark facility, they should take the time out to visit and bear witness to so many authentic primary Southampton historical artifacts. There is also an amazing gift shop with donated items for sale.

The event was well attended on a beautiful sunsetting evening. Notables attended, such as Gianna Volpe, along with her daughter Harmony. Ms. Volpe is the host of the very popular “The Heart of the East End” morning radio show on WLIW-FM (88.3 FM.) She was joined by Ed German, the noted decorated Vietnam veteran who has hosted a jazz show on the same radio station for decades.

In attendance too were Joe Shaw and his wife, Dana. Joe Shaw is the Executive Editor of the Press Newspaper Group. He is perhaps the most influential journalist on the east end. Dana is a well known photographer and Photo Editor of the Press News Group.

Also, there was Beth Young, the Editor/Publisher of the East End Beacon. The popular Ms. Young is well respected by her peers. She is a long-time and knowledgeable east end journalist and often is called in for radio spots concerning hot east end issues.

Tom Edmonds is the Executive Director of the Southampton History Museum located in the Rogers Mansion. As he hosted the event he was kind enough to conduct a splendid tour of the mansion, including a room dedicated to pets.

While he conducted the detailed tour of the Rogers Mansion, he shared some of his thoughts and insights with hamptons.com. Mr. Edmonds said, “The core of the Rogers Mansion was built in 1650, then there is an 1843 room, and over there (he pointed) is a 1910 room. The Rogers mansion is twenty rooms and it is a Gilded Age home, built in 1900 and expanded by Sam Parrish who developed the Parrish Art Museums. This was his summer place. The mansion reflects Southampton’s gilded age which is later than Newport, Rhode Island.”

Concerning the Fundraiser by the Southampton Rotary Club, museum Director Edmonds said it was to upgrade the grounds and “for education programs. We provide free education programs to everybody. We have had 250,000 people on our Zoom lectures these past two years. (The fundraiser) helps pay for fees and speakers.”

The museum is located at 17 Meeting House Lane and is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 4 pm year-round. It also has many special events. The website is www.southamptonhistory.org

Seamus Doyle, President of Southampton Rotary said, “It is wonderful that Rotary can sponsor this event with great help from Sean Deneny, one of our members and a trustee of the museum. The museum is a landmark in the Town of Southampton and we are very pleased as Rotary Club to be able to reach out and help raise funds and also reach out and tell people more about Rotary and the projects we do.”