NEWSLETTER
Oyster Bay, New York – Planting Fields Foundation (“Planting Fields” or “the Foundation”) has opened two new Coe Hall estate tours.
The new estate tours are entitled, “A View from Coe Hall” and “A Place to Rest Your Head”. These new experiences in Coe Hall represent the first time in nearly three decades that the estate tours have been recreated and renewed. Each tour was reviewed in a rigorous testing process with the Foundation’s experienced guides and docents. Each tour tells a distinct story about the founders, the family, the love and legacy of art, architecture, horticulture, and preservation. “A View from Coe Hall” has also been crafted to ensure full accessibility to visitors with mobility devices and will take visitors to the Cloister Garden as well as select rooms within the house.
Daily tours have also begun for the Foundation’s new exhibition, The Great Bird Blind Debate that officially opened to the public last Saturday. Located in the Carl F. Wedell Bird Sanctuary, world-class artists Mark Dion and David Brooks have created site-specific installations in the form of bird blinds designed for the close observation of birds, reflecting on the natural world and history of Planting Fields. The tour begins with the exhibition gallery inside Coe Hall featuring the artists’ renderings, models, sculptures, and other multimedia. “Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year at Planting Fields and we are thrilled to be able to offer a selection of new tours that bring a new way of looking at the past, present and future of Planting Fields,” states Gina Wouters, Executive Director, Planting Fields Foundation.
Tickets for the new tours must be purchased in advance online to minimize wait times and allow for no-touch entry. Tours are limited to a maximum of 10 participants at a time, from the same household or party. To ensure the health and safety of visitors, staff and docents, masks must be worn at all times inside Coe Hall. Complete details on the Foundation’s safety protocols and procedures are available at www.plantingfields.org.
A View from Coe Hall
45 minutes
Explore the layered history of the estate and walk away with a sense of the Coe’s lives at Planting Fields and how the home was designed to facilitate their seasonal needs. This tour visits the entryway, the Den, the French Reception room, the Gallery, the Writing room, and the Cloister garden.
A Place to Rest Your Head
45 minutes
Explore the most intimate rooms of Coe Hall, the bedrooms that housed the Coes, their guests, and staff. What can we learn about the lives of those that inhabited this estate from the trappings of their bedrooms, and the vistas from their windows? This tour visits the West Guest suite, East Guest suite, Mai Coe’s suite, W.R. Coe’s suite, Governess’s room, and Valet’s room.
The Great Bird Blind Debate
75 minutes
The tour begins in the exhibition rooms in Coe Hall and continues with a guided walk to the installation site to view David Brooks’ Budding Bird Blind and access the inside of Mark Dion’s The Posh Blind. Participants will see how Dion and Brooks drew from the aesthetic elements of Coe Hall and Planting Fields to create sculptures that reflect on human interaction with the environment, the culture of birding, and the interplay of observation and debate in the scientific community.
Rates:
Adults 18-61: $10.00
Adults 62 and older: $9.00
Youth 12-17: $5.00
Kids under 12: Free
Members: Free
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Estate and Exhibition Tours - Hours |
Admission $10 Adults |
About Planting Fields Foundation
Planting Fields Foundation strives to preserve and make relevant to all audiences the heritage of Planting Fields, an early 20th century 409-acre estate, designed as an integrated composition of the built and natural world. Founded in 1952 by William R. Coe, the Foundation is a not for profit public educational foundation chartered by the New York State Board of Regents and tax exempt under the status for a 501C3 organization.
Located in Oyster Bay, New York and originally landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts, the Arboretum grounds feature 409 acres of greenhouses, rolling lawns, formal gardens, woodland paths and outstanding plant collections. The original historic estate buildings remain intact including Coe Hall, a 65-room Tudor Revival mansion designed by Walker & Gillette. The interior of the house is a showcase of artistry and craftsmanship and features a distinctly American aesthetic through original ironwork commissions by Samuel Yellin and murals painted by artists Robert Winthrop Chanler and Everett Shinn. Planting Fields is included in the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the Nation’s historic sites worthy of preservation.
To learn more about Planting Fields Foundation, please visit our website at www.plantingfields.org.
Contact:
Winn Keaten
Planting Fields Foundation
Director of Marketing and Communications
516-922-8678