Old Westbury Gardens — Summer Open Season
Old Westbury Gardens is one of Long Island's most underappreciated cultural treasures — a 200-acre English landscape estate with formal gardens, the Phipps mansion, and weekly summer concerts on the West Pond. Family-friendly, golden-hour-perfect, and the kind of LI experience that makes out-of-state visitors reconsider Long Island.
Old Westbury Gardens is the Long Island cultural asset that gets dramatically less attention than it deserves. 200 acres of English landscape estate — formal gardens, the restored 1906 Phipps mansion, walking trails, the West Pond lawn, the Children’s Garden. Weekly summer concerts on the West Pond lawn from June through August.
Why it’s special:
- One of the last fully-preserved Gilded Age estates in the country
- Open to public 5 days/week (Wed-Sun) May-October
- Family-friendly without being kiddie — adults enjoy the grounds equally
- Cars/strollers/dogs (leashed) all welcome on the grounds
Programmed weeks:
- Picnic concerts (every Wednesday + Sunday in summer) — bring your own + buy wine on-site
- Garden Days (mid-June) — peony + rose displays peak
- Halloween Wicked Wednesdays (October) — family-friendly evening tours
Practical:
- 5-minute drive off the LIE Exit 39
- Adult $15, kids $10. Members get unlimited summer access.
- Bring sunscreen + a blanket. Most of the experience is outdoors + lounge-y.
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Read before you go
- town spotlight Sayville Village: A Local's Guide for 2026 Sayville Village — the South Shore walkable downtown that locals refuse to gentrify, with restored 19th-century Main Street, the Sayville Cab Company since 1958, the Sayville Restaurant Group anchors (Casa Luis, Cull House), the Saturday Farmers Market on Foster Avenue, the Fire Island ferry terminal at the harbor, and an annual event calendar that runs from Memorial Weekend Classic Car Show through Holiday Stroll. Walking distance from the LIRR. The slow-paced South Shore village that works.
- town spotlight Northport Village: A Local's Guide for 2026 Northport Village — the North Shore harbor village with restored 19th-century Main Street, the working harbor + town park, the Engeman Theater, the Saturday farmers market, and the John W. Engeman Theatre + Northport Yacht Club rituals that anchor the village's calendar. Walking distance from the LIRR. The North Shore family Saturday at its best.
- seasonal What We're Tracking: The Long Island Summer 2026 Calendar Takes Shape The Editors' Memorial Weekend reset on what we're tracking for Long Island summer 2026. Programming announcements, venue updates, the new restaurants worth a drive, the festivals that bumped their dates, and the East End rhythm shifts. Updated weekly through Labor Day.