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Vanderbilt, William K., Estate-Eagles Nest
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Vanderbilt Mansion
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| Location: | 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport, New York 11721 |
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| Area: | 43 acres (17 ha) |
| Architect: | Warren & Wetmore |
| Architectural style: | Spanish Baroque |
| Governing body: | Private |
| MPS: | Huntington Town MRA |
| NRHP Reference#: | 85002545[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | September 26, 1985 |
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum is located in Centerport on the North Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Named for William K. Vanderbilt II (1878–1944), it is located on his former 43-acre (170,000 m2) estate, Eagle's Nest.
His will provided for donation of his property to the county, with provision that the mansion and grounds be used for a museum for his marine, natural history, and ethnographic collections; the natural history institution was established during 1950. Developing a museum that interprets Vanderbilt's life, times, and collections, the county constructed a planetarium on the grounds during 1970.[2]
The museum complex, operated by Suffolk County, includes the mansion with furnishings and fine art, a marine museum with marine and natural history specimens (butterflies, birds, shells, mammals and fish), a curator's cottage, a seaplane hangar, a boathouse, gardens, and a collection of ethnographic objects (firearms and swords, ship models, and European, Asian and African objects). The museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 1985.