On the Gold Coast
Written: Oct 15 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good use of public space
Cons: There's still a lot of emphasis on the moneyed classes
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| pambo's Full Review: Long Island |
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions
A few miles east of New York City, along the many necks of land sticking out into Long Island Sound, is the area known as the Gold Coast, a stretch of land encompassing many estates of the wealthy businessmen of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
While celebrating people for their wealth goes utterly against my grain, the estates have, in many cases, been turned into museums and centers of education instead of continuing to exist just to glorify their former owners. The properties are uniformly beautiful and well maintained and available to the public. All of these places are worth a visit if you're coming into New York City for a few days and want an experience completely different from the city, or live relatively nearby.
I'd plan a day to hit two places and get a sense of how the rich really lived.
Among them are:
The Old Westbury Gardens, built in 1906 by English architect George Abraham Crawley. The gardens include Westbury House, and cover 88 acres of gardens, and ponds. This National Register of Historic Places estate was the home of financier John S. Phipps and his wife, Margarita Grace Phipps, and is a Charles II style mansion. Mrs. Phipps was the daughter of Michael Grace who founded, with his brother William, the Grace Shipping Lines in South America.
The garden features historic varieties of plants as well as hybrids and experimental plantings; a Latin inscription over the entrance to the manor reads: "Pax Introentibus - Salus Exeuntibus"—Peace to those who enter/Good health to those who depart.”
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park. The former home of the Coe family, this estate covers 400 acres featuring greenhouses, paths, plants and gardens on beautiful display. This site is very active, making itself available to the public for weddings and concerts, and playing host to more than 200 events each year. The arboretum offers tips to those interested in horticulture, from amateur to professional.
Sands Point Preserve:This site offers a real look at the way wealth could be used wisely. It includes two castles, Hempstead House and Castlegould, and Falaise, a Normandy-style manor house. Castlegould features exhibits on natural history and is, at the moment, showing a well-designed exhibit on dinosaurs of particular interest to children but useful for anyone interested in prehistoric matters. Hempstead House and Falaise both offer tours designed to show off their ar, such as the Wedgwood china collection at the Hempstead, and the medieval and Renaissance art of Falaise. Also of interest at Falaise is the fact that Harry Guggenheim, who built the estate in 1923, was close friends with Charles Lindbergh, helping the aviator write a book while he visited the estate.
Caumsett State Park/Marshall Field III estate: The Georgian-style mansion, designed by John Russell Pope and built in the early 1920s, has suffered because of extensive renovations in the 1950s. But the 1,700-acre property itself has been turned into a park for biking and other activities.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pambo
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Pam
Location: Long Island
Reviews written: 470
Trusted by: 237 members
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