National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

The Gilded Age and Country Places
Dr. John Bard and others as early as the late-eighteenth century. 115 Later in 1895, the Courier
noted, "The modest dwellings which satisfied wealthy landowners along the Hudson half a
century ago from year to year are disappearing. On their sites are rising baronial halls fit for
royalty." 116 The Vanderbilts were joining families with the old names of Rogers, Livingston,
Mills, Rupport, Morton, Astor, Roosevelt, Dinsmore, and Newbold. Harrington noted:
The banks of the historic Hudson claim the New Yorker first of all. Many of the estates
along the stream are ancestral. The old Knickerbockers loved this land which the captain of
the Half Moon saw and pronounced very good. The patroons had country houses along the
Hudson centuries ago, and the settlements still ring with the names Livingston, De Peyester,
and Roosevelt. There was a period when the seashore and the Sound held a greater charm
for New Yorkers, but of recent years the popularity of the Hudson River country has been
steadily growing. 117
At this time local people felt virtually surrounded by millionaires. 118 The wife of one of the
Vanderbilts' employees, Mrs. Peggy Newman, described the prevailing demography of this
portion of the Hudson Valley, as she reflected upon her early years in Dutchess County.
You start with the Dinsmores, the Huntingtons and just all the way up [the Hudson River].
That's all I ever saw because we lived in Hillside which is right in the middle. You just start
down here and go around and there's nothing in those days, but millionaires. Everywhere
you looked and everywhere you went. 119
Since the late-eighteenth century, the Hudson Valley had been home to the numerous
heirs of the Livingston family, whose manor houses dominated the economic and social
structure of Colonial society along the river and dictated the architectural development of the
area. With the proliferation of Livingston descendants and their country seats along the east
bank of the Hudson, the arts of architecture and landscape design were introduced to the
region. 120 As the nineteenth century progressed, these families became increasingly reliant upon
old ties to the New York metropolis for economic and social sustenance. By the end of the
nineteenth century when Frederick purchased Hyde Park, some members of this family line
faced dwindling financial resources. Their country seats were being sold, often to the new breed
of businessman to which Frederick belonged, men with the financial resources to maintain and
enlarge older estates. This new land owner sought property as a resource for recreation and for
affirming social status in contrast to the earlier use of the land as a means to build wealth
through agricultural yields and tenant farm rents.
115
For a discussion of land transactions and the development of the Hyde Park landscape, see: Patricia
M. O'Donnell, Charles A. Birnbaum and Cynthia Zaitzevsky, Cultural Landscape Report for Vanderbilt
Mansion National Historic Site. Boston, MA: National Park Service, 1992, 5 Resource Management
Records, ROVA Archives.
116
"Baronial Halls Fit for Royalty," Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, December 29, 1895, 2, Typescript in
Historian's Research Notes Files, ROVA Archives.
117
John Harrington, "Summer Homes on the Hudson," Munsey's Magazine (August 1899): 723-4.
118
Charles Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript: Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, Hyde
Park, New York," Typescript, February 3, 1955, Resource Management Records, ROVA Archives, 15.
119
Peggy Newman, typescript of taped interview, September 1, 1984, 4, Oral History Collection, ROVA
Archives. Hillside is an area just north of Staatsburg and the Mills Mansion.
120
Neil Larson for Hudson River Heritage, Inc. Hudson River Historic District: Dutchess & Columbia
Counties, New York, Registration Form. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National
Historic Landmark Program, n.d., Section 8, 4-5. The term "country seat" will be used throughout this
report to refer to property from which income is derived in the form of agriculture or rents and which is
conceived of by the family and the surrounding community as its ancestral home.
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