This Long Island Mansion Hosts One Of New York’s Biggest Scottish Festivals And Looks Every Bit The Part
Two hundred acres of formal gardens, woodlands, and ponds.
A Gilded Age mansion anchoring the whole thing. And once a year, somewhere in the middle of all that manicured Long Island elegance, someone picks up a very large wooden pole and throws it as far as physically possible. This place does not need a festival to justify a visit.
The estate earns that on its own, pulling people in with the kind of grounds that make a two-hour drive feel like a reasonable decision on a random weekend.
But when the Scottish festival arrives, the place adds something that no formal garden tour could replicate. Bagpipes carrying across the lawn. Highland games unfolding in front of architecture that looks like it was designed specifically to host exactly this kind of spectacle.
New York has Celtic celebrations, and then it has this one, where the setting does as much work as the programming.
A Mansion That Earns Every Glance
Some buildings whisper their history. Westbury House practically announces it.
Built between 1903 and 1906, this Charles II-style manor was designed by English designer George A. Crawley, with help from American architect Grosvenor Atterbury.
The result is something that feels genuinely transported from Britain.
Financier John Shaffer Phipps had it built as a promise to his English wife, Margarita Grace Phipps. He wanted to recreate the feeling of her family home at Battle Abbey in East Sussex, England. That level of devotion shows in every brick and cornice.
The mansion spans 23 rooms filled with 18th-century English antiques and decorative arts. One of its most surprising features is a hidden compartment inside the study bookcase, built specifically to store violins.
A John Singer Sargent portrait hangs in the dining room, adding serious artistic weight to an already impressive space.
The Red Ballroom is genuinely jaw-dropping. Its floor-to-ceiling windows can hydraulically lower into the floor, opening the entire room to the outdoors.
Few historic homes in New York pull off that kind of theatrical elegance with such effortless confidence.
Old Westbury Gardens: The Estate Behind The Legend
Old Westbury Gardens sits at 71 Old Westbury Road in Old Westbury, NY, and the address alone does not prepare you for what is waiting inside. The estate covers 200 acres of formal gardens, naturalistic woodlands, ponds, and lakes.
It earned its place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and that recognition is completely deserved.
The property was preserved as a public trust in 1959 by Peggie Phipps Boegner, daughter of the original owners. Without her decision, this entire landscape could have been subdivided and erased like so many neighboring Gold Coast estates.
New York owes her a quiet but sincere thank you.
Visitors can explore the grounds and take guided tours of Westbury House, which still holds original furnishings that most historic homes have long since lost to auction houses and estate sales. The authenticity here is rare and genuinely moving.
The estate is open Wednesday through Monday from 10 AM to 6 AM, giving you plenty of daylight to wander without rushing. Admission runs around $22, which, considering the scale and quality of what you experience, feels like an exceptional deal by any standard.
The Celtic Festival That Steals The Show
Every year, the expansive front lawns of Westbury House transform into something you would not expect from a Gilded Age estate. The Long Island Celtic Festival and Highland Games rolls in with kilts, pipe bands, and enough Highland energy to make the whole property feel alive in a completely new way.
Formerly known as the Long Island Scottish Festival and Highland Games, the event now celebrates the full breadth of Celtic heritage, covering Scottish, Irish, and Welsh traditions.
Old Westbury Gardens organizes and produces the festival directly, which means the quality and care put into it matches the estate’s own high standards.
Past festivals have drawn around 5,000 adults and 800 youth participants. That is a serious crowd, and the atmosphere reflects it.
Pipe bands like the Northport Pipe and Drum Band and the Clan Gordon Highlander Pipe Band fill the air with sound that carries across the grounds in waves.
A marketplace runs alongside the games, offering Celtic products and food trucks for those who want to shop and eat between events. The combination of historic setting and living cultural tradition makes this festival genuinely one of a kind in all of New York.
Highland Games Worth Traveling For
The caber toss is one of those athletic events that sounds absurd until you watch it happen in person. A competitor lifts a large wooden pole, runs forward, and flips it end over end.
The goal is not distance but direction, landing the caber at the twelve o’clock position relative to the thrower. It is equal parts strength and precision.
At the Long Island Celtic Festival, Highland Games competitions bring this tradition front and center. Events like the hammer throw, stone put, and weight toss round out the program, offering a full showcase of the athletic culture that has been part of Scottish heritage for centuries.
What makes the setting particularly striking is the backdrop. Competing in the shadow of a Charles II-style English manor, surrounded by formal gardens and ancient trees, gives the games an atmosphere that no purpose-built sports venue could replicate.
The contrast between old-world architecture and raw athletic effort is genuinely thrilling to watch.
Youth participants also get their own competitions, making the Highland Games a multigenerational experience. Families spread out across the lawn, cheering on competitors of all ages in a setting that feels both historic and completely alive with energy.
Pipe Bands That Raise The Hairs On Your Arms
There is something about the sound of bagpipes outdoors that hits differently than any other instrument.
At the Long Island Celtic Festival, pipe bands perform throughout the day, and the music carries across the gardens in a way that genuinely complements the historic atmosphere of the estate.
Groups like the Northport Pipe and Drum Band and the Clan Gordon Highlander Pipe Band bring serious craft to their performances. These are not casual hobby groups.
They are skilled musicians who rehearse extensively to deliver the kind of sound that makes a crowd go quiet out of pure respect.
Hearing bagpipes while standing on the manicured lawn of a 200-acre English-style estate in New York is an experience that is hard to fully describe before you have lived it.
The combination of cultural tradition and architectural grandeur creates a sensory moment that stays with you long after the festival ends.
The performances also give visitors a reason to pause and simply stand still for a while. Between the Highland Games, the marketplace, and the gardens, it can be easy to keep moving.
The pipe bands offer a natural invitation to stop, breathe, and actually absorb where you are.
Gardens Designed To Take Your Breath Away
Margarita Grace Phipps had a passion for horticulture, and the gardens at Old Westbury reflect that dedication at every turn. The Rose Garden was the first area designed by George Crawley and still anchors the estate with an ancient English stone sundial at its center.
It sets a tone of quiet, deliberate beauty that carries through the entire property.
The 2.5-acre Walled Garden is a visual experience all on its own. Vibrant flower beds, fountains, and a lotus pond fill the space with color and movement.
Walking through it feels less like a garden visit and more like stepping inside a painting that someone forgot to finish because it kept getting better.
The Lilac Walk was Margarita’s personal favorite, and it is easy to understand why. Over 250 lilac plants representing 30 different varieties line the path, releasing waves of fragrance during peak bloom season.
The effect is both calming and completely overwhelming in the best possible way.
Beyond these main areas, the estate also features a hemlock-lined Ghost Walk, rhododendron groves, hidden bridges, sphinxes, Napoleonic archways, and a charming thatched cottage.
Each corner of the property offers something genuinely unexpected and worth discovering at your own pace.
Wee Celt Land And Family Fun On The Lawn
Not every festival thinks carefully about its youngest attendees, but the Long Island Celtic Festival does. The dedicated Wee Celt Land section offers family-friendly entertainment that keeps kids genuinely engaged while parents enjoy the rest of the event.
It is a thoughtful touch that makes the whole day work for groups of all ages.
Face painting, a magician, a puppet show, and birds of prey demonstrations fill the schedule with activities that hold attention far better than a gift shop ever could. The birds of prey display in particular tends to draw crowds well beyond the intended age group. Adults included.
Having a dedicated family zone also means parents can relax and actually enjoy the Highland Games, the pipe band performances, and the Celtic marketplace without constantly worrying about restless children.
Everyone gets what they came for, which is a genuinely rare achievement for a large outdoor festival.
The setting adds its own layer of magic. Children running across the same lawns that stretch out in front of a 23-room Gilded Age mansion creates a memory that is hard to replicate anywhere else in New York.
Fun and history rarely share the same lawn this comfortably.
A Marketplace Steeped In Celtic Culture
Any festival worth attending takes its marketplace seriously, and the Long Island Celtic Festival delivers one that reflects genuine cultural pride.
Vendors offer Celtic products ranging from tartan goods and traditional crafts to jewelry and clothing rooted in Scottish, Irish, and Welsh traditions.
Browsing the stalls feels like a cultural education with better shopping than any museum gift shop.
Food trucks add a practical and delicious dimension to the experience. After watching a few rounds of Highland Games or standing for a full pipe band set, having good food nearby is not a luxury but a necessity.
The options tend to reflect the festival’s spirit, leaning into hearty and satisfying choices.
The marketplace also gives attendees a way to support artisans and vendors who specialize in Celtic heritage goods year-round. Many of the sellers are passionate about what they carry, and that enthusiasm comes through in conversations at the stalls.
Shopping here feels less transactional and more like a genuine exchange.
Spread across the grounds of Old Westbury Gardens, the marketplace benefits from one of the most visually striking backdrops available anywhere in New York.
Browsing handcrafted Celtic goods with a 200-acre English estate behind you adds a dimension of atmosphere that no convention center could manufacture.
Why This Estate Keeps Calling People Back
Old Westbury Gardens has a 4.7-star rating across thousands of visitors, and that number reflects something real. People do not return to a place year after year simply because it is pretty.
They return because it offers something that holds up under repeated visits, and this estate absolutely does.
The grounds change with the seasons, which means a spring visit dominated by lilacs and roses feels completely different from an autumn walk through golden woodlands. The estate rewards patience and rewards return trips with new details that earlier visits missed entirely.
Beyond the gardens and the mansion, the calendar of events keeps the property dynamic throughout the year.
From the Celtic festival to cultural celebrations and seasonal programming, Old Westbury Gardens functions as a living cultural venue rather than a static historic site.
That distinction matters more than it might initially seem.
For anyone based in New York or passing through Long Island, this estate represents the kind of destination that earns a permanent spot on the return list.
The combination of Gilded Age architecture, world-class gardens, and a Scottish festival that fills the front lawn with kilts and music is simply not something you find anywhere else.
Go once and you will already be planning the next visit before you reach the parking lot.