See the Decorated Vanderbilt Mansion by Candlelight

Experience the Charm and Luxury of Gold-Coast Life with Special Tours of  the Vanderbilt Mansion, Decked in Holiday Style

Evenings, December 26-30

You can experience the holidays, Gold-Coast style, with a candlelight tour of William K. Vanderbilt II's spectacular waterfront mansion, decorated elegantly for the season by the museum's curators and by garden clubs and volunteers. Your visit to the mansion in its holiday finery is a time-machine journey to the glamorous heyday of Long Island's North Shore from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Candlelight tours will be given from Sunday, December 26, through Thursday, December 30, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $9 for students and seniors (62 and older), and $5 for children 12 and under. Hot chocolate and cookies will be served.

The Vanderbilt will operate on special holiday hours: Sunday, December 26, from 12:00 to 5:00, with planetarium shows 12:00 to 4:00; December 27-31 from 11:00 to 5:00, with planetarium shows hourly from 11:00 to 4:00.

Lighted, decorated trees and wrapped gifts grace the mansion's bedrooms, halls and common spaces, which are bedecked with wreaths, poinsettias, berries, garlands and ornaments.

The Vanderbilt Museum will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (December 24 and 25) and on New Year's Day (January 1). The museum will be open on New Year's Eve (December 31).

Decorating the mansion is an annual tradition for local garden clubs and individuals. This year, the decorators included the Centerport, Dix Hills, Honey Hills and Nathan Hale garden clubs, the Cornell Cooperative Gardeners, and volunteers Gloria Else-Caiazzo and Allyson Else-Norton.

Mansion and Museum Hours

On December 1-23, guided tours of the decorated Vanderbilt Mansion in December will be given on Tuesday and Friday at 12:45, 2:00 and 3:15 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday between 12:00 and 4:00 (the last tour begins at 4:00).

On Sunday, December 26 through Thursday, December 30, guided tours will be given 12:00 to 5:00, with the last tour leaving at 4:00.

In December, the mansion, marine museum, natural-history galleries and grounds are open Tuesday and Friday from 12 to 5, Saturday 11 to 5, Sunday 12 to 5. December hours: Tuesday and Friday, 12 to 4, Saturday 11 to 5, Sunday 12 to 5. On Sunday, December 26, the museum is open 12 to 5, with Planetarium shows from 12 to 4. From Monday, December 27, through Friday, December 31, the museum is open from 11 to 5, with Planetarium shows hourly from 11 to 4.