After studying with the American artist George Inness in New York, Kost completed his studies in Munich and Paris. He returned to New York in the mid-1880’s and in 1906 he purchased a home in Brookhaven, Long Island, near Great South Bay. The bay had a plentiful supply of salt hay growing in the coastal marshes. After harvesting, the hay was shipped to markets and sold as packing material, fodder, bedding for cattle and mulch for crops. Like other artists who worked on Long Island, Kost chose to focus on the serene and beautiful tonal atmosphere. Gathering Salt Hay, Long Island, evokes an agrarian period which has long since disappeared on Long Island.