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9.14

The Mansion driveway, what else!





Above is our host greeting us at the mansion entrance.

The after dinner room for the men.

In this foyer are three doorways. The one to the left is where the men would retreat to after dinner.

The gals, on the other hand, would settle into the room opposite from the men and socialize, the room you see above. Some random pictures of some of the other 50 rooms in this building. Between the two room described above is  basically a very elegant gathering area. From here they would gather until summoned to the dining area.

Above and below is the doorway in the middle.

The Grand Dining Room above. Below is a picture of the men’s gathering room to the left of the chair and to the right of the other chair is the ladies room.

Ceiling height on the first floor is eighteen feet. Looking down the stairway of thirty-nine steps to the second level. In the picture below is the upper level.

Some pictures of some of the rooms on this level. This would be the main sleeping area for the one per center’s attending. If you did not qualify you slept on the third level along with any single women and female staffers.  Single men would be sleeping in the now Visitor Center.

This would be the Vanderbilt’s sleeping quarters. Not exactly shabby. Myself, I’d probably have a difficult time trying to get to sleep with all the opulence in this room. It did not seem to bother these folks.

Down deep they wanted to shape this new country in the image of England where the upper 2%ers would control properties and industry and provide an opportunity for Amerscans to follow to appreciate their place in this world working for this new class of individuals, as indentured savants.
This is really a bit much. No wonder it could not be sold. Unlike other venues from the past the furnishings in this mansion are all authentic and all was part of the household at that time.

Another bedroom.

Going down to the basement level.

The staffers Dining Room. They ate as well as the folks above. Food was about the same, they drank from crystal glassware and they enjoyed very generous Christmas gratuities. A few worked their entire lives here and many had over ten years employment. They were treated like family.

Frederick Vanderbilt, the owner and builder of the mansion, knew how important it was to keep and appreciate all their staffers. Once electricity became readily available he was asked if he wanted to electrify the freezer closet, which until now, was the privy of the house “ice cutters.” He declined to have it modernized since he would have to lay off the two staffers who maintained the unit.

Views from the back of the mansion. You can see the Hudson River in the distance.

The mansion had fifty rooms and over seven-hundred acres. As big as that might sound it was considered their cottage to retreat to during the hot summer months. As the story goes the Vanderbilt’s were filthy rich and the next generation were fortunate enough to double their wealth. Then came the third generation. They specialized in enjoying their inherited wealth. It did not take to many years for this generation to realize the cottage was expensive to maintain, and quite honestly they were tired of going there. The widowed wife of the grandson to Frederick was left several million in cash which she kept but decided to sell the estate. It went on the market for $350,000. She never got a bite on the property. She then lowered the price to $250,000 with the same results. It wasn’t until FDR, a neighbor not that far away in Hyde Park approached her to donate the land and property to, which would soon be, the National Park Service which she did. Before the NPS acquired the estate, she confiscated all the valuable and aged wines the mansion had acquired prior to turning over the keys to the property.