A Toast on Colonial Ground: The Halsey House Gala Looks Toward America’s 250th
The Southampton History Museum’s annual benefit unfolded on the grounds of the town’s oldest dwelling, a house that stood well before the Declaration was signed, in a tribute to the anniversary now approaching.
The house was already old when the country was new. That fact hung over the Southampton History Museum’s annual Halsey House Gala, held on the grounds of Southampton’s oldest dwelling, where guests gathered under the summer light to mark an anniversary the building itself predates by more than a century. With the United States approaching 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the setting did the thematic work without anyone needing to explain it.
Philanthropists, collectors and cultural leaders filled the garden for an evening that functioned as both celebration and fundraiser. The Halsey House & Garden offers something few venues can: a direct physical link to colonial America and the earliest days of Southampton life, maintained as a working piece of the town’s heritage rather than a monument to it. Standing on that ground, the coming national milestone felt less abstract than it does in most rooms where it is discussed.
The gala was co-chaired by Jean Shafiroff and Mary Slattery, both long established in Hamptons philanthropy and cultural preservation, whose stewardship shaped an evening that balanced elegance with purpose. Bill McCuddy served as emcee, moving the program along with a light touch that kept the tone social rather than solemn. Among the guests were Rebecca Seawright, Steven Stolman and the artist Hunt Slonem, joined by a broad circle of patrons and community figures who have made the gala a fixture on the East End calendar.
The live auction supplied the evening’s competitive energy. Bidding ran strongest on glassware from Asprey and an original work by Slonem, both of which drew sustained interest from the room. Auctions at events like this one perform a specific function beyond entertainment: they convert an audience’s goodwill into operating budget, and the enthusiasm in the tent translated directly into support for the museum’s year-round work.
That work is more extensive than the single evening suggests. Proceeds from the gala fund the maintenance of historic sites, the growth of archival collections and the development of educational programming for a range of audiences. Through exhibitions, public programs and community outreach, the museum serves as custodian of Southampton’s and the wider East End’s cultural narrative, keeping local history in circulation rather than in storage. Historic properties are unforgiving in their demands; a house that has stood since the seventeenth century requires continuous attention, and private philanthropy is what supplies it.
The 2026 gala was made possible by benefactors across several giving levels. Platinum supporters included Fiona and Stan Druckenmiller, The Derfner Foundation, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, and the M. Sullivan Fund, given in memory of Marge Sullivan. Gold supporters included Susan K. Allen, George and Leslie Biddle, Ann Marie Carr, Judi and Kevin Donnelly, Southampton Inn, and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, with Silver and Bronze support drawn from a wide network of individuals, foundations and local businesses.
As the country prepares for its semiquincentennial, institutions like the Southampton History Museum occupy a useful position. A nonprofit educational organization chartered by the New York State Board of Regents and incorporated under the New York State Education Department, the museum operates as a 501(c)(3) and holds in trust the sites, archives and collections through which a community understands its own past. National anniversaries tend toward abstraction. The Halsey House resists it.
There is something clarifying about raising money for history while standing inside it. The guests who bid on Asprey glass and a Slonem canvas were funding the roof over a house that watched the republic begin, and will, if the museum does its work, watch a good deal more.
