National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Resource History and Description of Existing Conditions
The Engineering Record reported that a pond on the Twombly estate had been enlarged to fourand-a-half
acres specifically to supply ice for the estate. 1188
The final component of the water system was provisions for sewage disposal. Again,
limited evidence exists concerning the design and extent of the property's sewage system.
Several publications in the late 1890s described ideal sewage disposal systems, for the most part
disdaining the use of cesspools and advocating systems that purified wastes through a system of
surface or sub-surface drainage fields. 1189 As best that can be determined, the Vanderbilt estate
utilized several different systems that ranged from a tile field for greenhouse waste to cesspools,
to direct dumping into the Hudson River. There is no extant evidence of these systems.
The ledger books document the existence of several cesspools, but there is no way to
determine whether or not these were "tight" cesspools, those that essentially stored wastes, or
"leaching" cesspools that allowed liquids to drain through underground porous filters. 1190 The
1898 ledger shows a payment to J. Myers and Son for building a cesspool for the Stable and
cottage in January 1898. For June 12, 1899, there is a record of payment to J.M. Wicker to clean
the workmen's cesspool at the house. August 1899 shows a payment to Myers for a new
cesspool for the farm and again in September 1899 for "building cesspool and laying tile to farm
house." 1191 The 1903 Shears journal records his spending part of the day "fill[ing] in old
cesspool below mansion." 1192
Government reports indicate that the sewage received no treatment and was discharged
directly into the Hudson River. The Curradi report (1940) states:
The mansion and Pavilion are on one line direct to the river. There is no provision for treatment,
consequently all sewage reaches the river in a raw state.
Sewage from the greenhouse is piped to a septic tank and the effluent disposed of through a tile
field.
The garage and lower gate house are connected to a line that runs from Superintendent
Shears' residence to the river. There is no provision for treatment.
Sewage from the main gate house is disposed of in a nearby cesspool. 1193
In addition, in the 1954 interview with John B. Clermont, the Superintendent of Building for
Norcross Brothers, Clermont described the sewage system as "large earthen pipes that ran
from the mansion down the hill, under the railroad tracks, and emptied into the Hudson
River." 1194 The only other report on waste disposal is a notation from the parking lot
archeology report (1973) of a trash dump seventy-five feet downstream from the
1188
"The Twombly Estate," 208.
1189
See William P. Gerhard, The Disposal of Household Wastes (1890; reprint, New York: D. Van Nostrand
Co., 1904); "Country Houses, The Disposal of Their Sewage," Domestic Engineering (July 1896): 41-5;
"Sewage Disposal for Country Houses," The Sanitary Record (February 10, 1899): 1111-2; H. C.
Patterson, "Disposal of Wastes From Country Homes," Domestic Engineering (October 1899): 27-8.
1190
Gerhard, 37.
1191
Hyde Park Estate Ledgers, 1898, 1899.
1192
Herbert Shears, April 28, 1903.
1193
Curradi, 3.
1194
Memorandum to Superintendent, ROVA from Historian, ROVA, October 14, 1954, 4. Resource
Management Records. Hereafter cited as Clermont Interview.
210