The thunder and flash flooding this past week have been epic, and the long-term weather forecast says we will be getting more of the same this weekend and again next week. What’s a waterlogged parent or host with the most to do to keep the troops entertained? Here are a few destinations to brighten a rainy day.
Force everyone into raincoats and take them on a tour of historical house museums for a glimpse of what life was like in ye olde days before electric lighting. At Home, Sweet Home and the Mulford Farm in East Hampton Village, and the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum on Cedar Street, you can examine strange old kitchen implements and marvel at the smallness of the beds. Reward your budding history buffs with a nearly as old-fashioned raspberry lime rickey at Bridgehampton’s Candy Kitchen.
Take the raincoat gang out on an Abstract Expressionist excursion. You need to make advance reservations for a guided visit to the Pollock-Krasner House in Springs. Next stop, leave wildflowers on the artists’ graves in Green River Cemetery. Then scoot over to the John Little Barn at Duck Creek to see the contemporary artists’ group exhibit “All Things” through Sunday.
Make it a “Moby-Dick” day with a half-hour among the shore-whaling bric-a-brac at the Marine Museum in Amagansett, then a slow perusal of the scrimshaw at the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum. Lunch is chowder at the Dockhouse on Long Wharf, where Melville himself once walked.
The galleries at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, Guild Hall in East Hampton, and the Southampton Arts Center offer a great way to while away the hours on a rainy day.
And, of course, there are few things better on a dreary afternoon than a theater matinee. Sag Harbor Cinema has a Norman Mailer documentary and one called “Made in England” about great British directors; our friendly neighborhood superstar, Hugh Jackman, stars as Wolverine at the East Hampton movie theater, and, looking ahead to next weekend, the incredible costume designer Bob Mackey will speak at Guild Hall. If Bob Mackey can’t chase the clouds away, we don’t know what will.