The historic Jamesport Meeting House will be outfitted with a modern air-conditioning system, thanks to a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
The $32,125 grant will also fund the restoration of the building’s kitchen.
“Our Puritan air conditioning, i.e., open windows, served us well for 286 years, but contemporary audiences and modern street noise necessitate more,” said Richard Wines, president of Jamesport Meeting House Preservation Trust, the nonprofit organization that maintains and operates the historic structure.
“And historical kitchens apparently require renovation every century or so,” Wines quipped.
Wines made the announcement at a July 2 performance of the Meeting House Chorus followed by an old-fashioned ice cream social, according to a press release issued by the trust yesterday.
“We are thrilled by the generous support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation,” Wines said.
“The Jamesport Meeting House, built in 1731, is the most significant historic structure in the Town of Riverhead. It is not only the oldest building in Riverhead, but is also the oldest church or public building on the East End of Long Island and is on the National Register of Historic Places,” the organization said in the press release.
In 2008 a group of local residents came together and arranged financing to buy the building, forming the Jamesport Meeting House Preservation Trust. Since then, the building has regulalry hosted a broad range of events: classical concerts, Broadway performances, bluegrass, folk music, Shakespeare, civic association meetings, lectures, community spelling bees and weddings.
“The Jamesport House has been the center of its community for over 280 years. These improvements will keep this important structure a vital public place,” Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation executive director Kathryn Curran said.
The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation primarily supports the study of New York State history, with an emphasis on Suffolk County. Founded in 1987, its mission is inspired by Gardiner’s lifelong passion for New York history. Until his death in 2004, he was the 16th Lord of the Manor of Gardiner’s Island. Since 1639, the Gardiner family and their descendants have owned Gardiner’s Island by way of a royal grant from King Charles I of England.
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