Garden Party Celebrates Restoration Of Historic Studio, Grounds

EAST HAMPTON, NY —A devoted group has worked tirelessly to breathe new life into a historic artists' studio and the surrounding grounds in East Hampton.

To celebrate ongoing efforts, the Thomas Moran Trust held a garden party Saturday night on the historical grounds of the Thomas Moran and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio, located on Main Street in East Hampton Village.

The benefit was held in celebration of the final phase of the "meticulous restoration project," organizers said.

In addition, the trust unveiled the 19th-century garden of Mary Nimmo Moran, recreated by the Garden Club of East Hampton.

Attendees included Edwina von Gal, Susan Wood Richardson, and Eleanora Kennedy, among others.

Philanthropists and board of trustees included Michael Clifford, Frank Newbold, Grier Eliasek, Curt and Angel Schade, Doris and Gil Meister, Alan and Jackie Mitchell, Bruce and Laura Siska, Arthur, "Tiger," and Katy Graham as well as East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach, Jr.

The evening offered the public a rare opportunity to step behind the scenes to see the exquisite craftsmanship involved in this final phase of restoration, bringing both the Moran Studio and border garden back to its former glory of the late 1800s, organizers said in a release.

In 1885, American landscape painter Thomas Moran and his wife, Mary Nimmo Moran, a printmaker, and their children moved into a new studio and house that Moran designed on East Hampton’s Main Street.

The Studio, as it has been known since the Moran family first occupied it, comprises Thomas Moran’s studio and the rooms they lived in, as well as the gardens and outbuildings.

In its heyday The Studio was known as a center of the turn-of-the-19th-century art colony.

The Studio has held a rich place in East Hampton's history: In 1965, the Thomas Moran Studio became one of the first National Historic Landmarks in America.

Photos by Richard Lewin Professional Photography, soniboy@aol.com.