Inside Bridge Gardens: Bridgehampton’s Hidden Oasis of Flowers, Food and Community

If you know where to look on Bridgehampton’s Mitchell Lane, you’ll find a refuge — a secret garden with fragrant herbs, robust roses and plentiful vegetables — that has been charming, soothing and teaching folks for nearly two decades. And this lush, 5-acre parcel, owned and maintained by the Peconic Land Trust, is your ticket to a slower, more organic and informed season on the East End.

“It’s like a little oasis,” said Kathy Kennedy, the senior manager of outreach at Bridge Gardens. “It’s shady and cool and it’s just beautiful. So there’s a lot to love here.”

Beyond the double privet hedgerows and towering beech trees, visitors can freely explore the abundance of native and nonnative perennials, grasses, shrubs and wildflowers, a large rose garden and an herb garden with culinary, medicinal, ornamental and textile-dye plants. They can learn in a large demonstration vegetable garden as well. With gates open seven days a week and more programming than ever, Bridge Gardens promises to be a place for the people, rather than a fenced-off haven for only those who can afford a Bridgehampton zip code.

It wasn’t always this way — like countless fields on the South Fork, the plot of land was once part of the Bishop family’s potato fields before it was sold to Jim Kilpatric and Harry Neyens. The hobby horticulturists decided to replace their modest shared residence, once a potato barn, with a modern “garden house” that overlooks the lush plantings they sowed themselves,” according to The New York Times in 1992. While they often opened their property to the public for workshops, in 2008, Kilpatric and Neyens donated the property to the Peconic Land Trust, ensuring that it would be accessed by the public for years to come.

“When I got here 17 years ago, it was French, formal, geometric — everything was clipped,” said Garden Director Rick Bogusch. “It’s much more relaxed and has a more English landscape style.” Not only that, Bogusch said it lets visitors in on the process of gardening and caring for plant life, which now skews more toward native plants than ever before. “Our mission is to be a demonstration garden and outdoor classroom. So, we focus on that more, rather than just being a pretty face.”

Bogusch, who lives on the property, opens the gates for people seven days a week, which means they get to see all the manicuring in process and sometimes even take part. Volunteers with “bright green thumbs” help weed, water and prune, while those signed up for one of 24 community plots can sow and harvest their flowers and vegetables with help from Bogusch and his valiant volunteers. These $250 plots with a long waitlist are currently growing tomatoes, artichokes, Swiss chard, kale, radicchio and more aesthetically pleasing plants like spectacular sunflowers and dazzling dahlias, Bogusch said.

Even if you don’t have a plot in the garden, the Peconic Land Trust offers the chance to learn from experts all year long with workshops, lectures and hands-on activities, from farm-to-table cooking classes and pruning tutorials to organic lawn care and beyond. Kennedy said the garden usually hosts two to three programs a month, from April through December, depending on the weather. “We try to focus on areas of the garden in these workshops, whether it’s a tour of the rose garden and a conversation about that or the herb garden and all that entails,” she said.

But even if you’re not into these hands-on classes, Bridge Gardens remains a boon. Every Monday, Bogusch delivers newly harvested vegetables to the Sag Harbor Food Pantry, and the community is welcome in, even if it is to slide (or roll) down its hill on snowy days or get a breath of fresh air during a lunch break. Artists from the surrounding area often set up their easels for plein air painting, and through October 7, there is an arresting outdoor sculpture exhibition curated by Cheryl Sokolow of C Fine Arts and titled “Uncommon Ground VI” that features the work of 11 internationally renowned and museum-collected artists. And throughout the summer months, the garden also plays host to live music nights, which often feature trios and soloists who serenade visitors on picnic blankets.

While having access to the Peconic Land Trust’s coffers helps run things at Bridge Gardens, a lot of maintenance is supported by members, who also get free or discounted tickets to these cultural nights, classes and workshops.

But what will take the garden through its next 20 years is not just this sustained financial support, Bogusch and Kennedy said, but a reenvisioned public information center — a project that currently sits in front of Southampton Town officials for approval. If approved, the current garden house will be redesigned by Oza Sabbeth Architects to become a public building with a commercial kitchen designed to accommodate up to 150 people for programs and other ventures, workspaces for staff, a live-in suite for Bogusch, ample sheltered outdoor space and a new vegetated wetlands septic system — all with sustainability in mind.

“Because we don’t have an indoor space right now, oftentimes, if we have bad weather, it has to cancel, so having that space available will make our programs happen no matter what. And I think it’s really worth that happening,” Kennedy said. “The gardens really are a source of joy for a lot of people. It’s a resource for them … a wonderful community resource.”

Bridge Gardens is open to the public seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 36 Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton. Parking and admission are free.