New grant funding will support new programming at historic Jamesport Meeting House

The Jamesport Meeting House has been awarded a grant of $11,820 from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation to support programming at the historic facility, Jamesport Meeting House board president Richard Wines announced yesterday.

The grant will be used to fund the Meeting House’s new 1731 Concert Series and a Harvest Arts Festival, according to a statement.

“Board members are thrilled by the generous support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation,” Wines said. “This will allow us to extend our programming in ways that would not be possible without this assistance.”

Last year, the foundation provided grant funding for the installation of an air-conditioning system and the rehabilitation of the century-old kitchen.

“It is important not only to preserve significant historic structures like the Meeting House, but also to support creative programs that will engage the public. In this way our historic buildings come to life by using them to host innovative and original community outreach,” said Kathryn Curran, executive director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

The 1731 Concert Series is being organized by board member Peter Susser.

“The three concerts will feature professional New York-based ensembles and will include, but not be limited to music written around 1731,” Susser said.

The inaugural concert in this series will be an appearance by the acclaimed Black Marble Violin Duo from the REBEL Ensemble for Baroque Music on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Karen Marie Marmer and Jörg-Michael Schwarz will perform music by Leclair, Telemann, Boccherini, Shield, Locatelli and Mozart.

The Harvest Arts Festival is being organized by board member Cliff Baldwin. It will begin on Sept. 29 with a still life drawing class “Autumnal Light from 1731” with New York Times illustrator Rob Shepperson. This will be followed by a bookmaking and calligraphy workshop with Marta Baumiller and Alan Scott on Oct. 13, followed by a cyanotype workshop where participants will print images using the sunlight coming through the Meeting House’s beautiful old windows. The final program on November will feature a newly commissioned work by the festival organizer, “Jamesport Meeting – A Cinematic Exploration of the Building in Pictures and Sound,” that will be projected on the Meeting House’s century-old tin walls.


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 public building on the East End of Long Island. The Meeting House is a Riverhead Town landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since 2008 when a group of local residents came together and arranged financing to buy the building, it has become a vital not-for-profit venue for a broad range of events: classical concerts, Broadway performances, bluegrass, folk music, Shakespeare, civic association meetings, lectures, community spelling bees and weddings.

Established in 1987, the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation primarily supports the study of New York State history, with an emphasis on Suffolk County. 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, N.Y. 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.