Politics & Government

Town Board Plows the Way for a Farm Museum

Farm museum, approved by the East Hampton Town Board, could also be the new home for the East Hampton Farmers Market.

On the South Fork, there are museums dedicated to the arts, Native Americans, and maritime history, among others. East Hampton will soon have one dedicated to farming, too.

The East Hampton Town Board has approved the use of the Lester-Labrozzi property on the corner of North Main Street and Cedar Street as a farm museum, which could be opened by the spring.

The approximately three-acre parcel includes the historic Selah Lester house and barn, and will be devoted to the history of farming in East Hampton.

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The concept is to have the three rooms on the downstairs utilized like they might have been in the 1920s and 1930s, according to Councilwoman Theresa Quigley, who is the laision to the Farm Museum Committee.

The town board also hopes to move the East Hampton Farmers' Market, which is located across the street at , to the property, Quigley said. "We are working on getting that approved," she said in an email on Wednesday.

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One room will house a permanent collection, devoted to farm life, equipment, home, while another will have a rotating collection, highlighting a person or farming practice typical of that era. The last room will be a working kitchen, Quigley said.

The grounds would also have a fruit garden and the kitchen would be utilized in connection with the garden, to demonstrate pie making, jelly making, preserving of fruits, Quigley said.

"The concept would incorporate a late summer activity of a pie fair ... as in selling pies made from the fruit grown on the site," she said.  

The Farm Museum Committee, which includes Prudence Carabine, Carla Ash, East Hampton Historica Society Director Richard Barons, Alexander Balsam and Anthony Littman, will encourage schools to bring school children to the museum.

The members of the committee are looking for items for the museum and have had some success, but could not accept them as it was not clear the town board approved the concept, she said.

"Now that the town board has approved it, the members are free to accept donations (subject to the town's approval)," said Quigley

The property was purchased with money from the Community Preservation Fund in 2005 for open space, recreation and historic purposes.


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