National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Historical Overview
gentlemen were silver scarf pins . . . East Indian Kushus, sandal wood and decorated mica
fans, rosettes of ribbon and artificial flowers to match the sashes for the ladies, and silvered
trumpets. . . . The supper . . . was served at fifty . . . tables placed in the dining room and the
tents. . . . Music was furnished by the Hungarian band and casino orchestra, the former for
promenading and the latter for dancing. . . . To light the house required 10,000 candlepower
of electric lights. . . . The Louis XV Salon, which was not finished last year, was
opened upon this occasion. 247
Frederick and Louise continued to use Rough Point for the summer seasons from 1891 to 1894,
and then visited only briefly through 1901. Thereafter the house was used by Rose Howard as a
summer residence until Frederick sold the property in 1906. 248 Thus ended Frederick and
Louise's brief tenure in Newport society. As Eleanor Worcester noted, "They preferred the
countryside [at Hyde Park] to Newport. I think they were individuals to quite an extent." 249
Favoring the Adirondacks to Newport, from 1902 to 1913 the Vanderbilts owned their
Japanese Camp at Upper St. Regis Lake. Frederick was reported to have employed a crew of
fifteen Japanese craftsmen for two years during construction of the camp. 250 It was completed in
1903 and used most extensively between that year and 1907, a summer in which the Vanderbilts
hosted numerous parties at the camp. 251 Frederick and Louise spent the summers of 1909 and
1911 through 1914 in Europe. The Japanese Camp was sold in 1913. 252
The year 1913 saw the Vanderbilts vacate and lease 459 Fifth Avenue, sell their Japanese
Camp, and move temporarily to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. In the years leading up to 1913, they
had spent their summers aboard their yacht Warrior off the coast of Europe. Frederick was
fifty-seven at the time, and Louise was sixty-nine. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914
and the wreck of the Warrior in January of that year, Frederick and Louise abandoned their
summer-long cruises in Europe for the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine. In 1915 they leased
Leeward Cottage from Mr. George L. Thompson on West Street. 253 In 1916, they were at Four
Acres owned by Mrs. A.J. Cassat. In 1919 they spent the summer at Corfield, which was owned
by Robert Bowler. 254
A newspaper account of Bar Harbor in September 1901 describes the character of the
popular vacation spot:
Bar Harbor is slowly being deserted. People hate to leave, the air is so delicious, and the little
bite of frost is just delightful, those who have remained have been giving the usual dinners
247
"The Vanderbilt Ball," Newport Daily News, August 12, 1891. A german was a type of entertainment.
248
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 9. Snell cites Braman's Scrap Book, vol. 5, 83, September 22, 1899;
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, July 28, 1901, 8; May 27, 1900, 3; June 22, 1902, 7; September 21, 1902, 7;
June 14, 1903, 8; August 2, 1903, 8.
249
Worcester, 49.
250
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 9. Snell cites Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, September 21, 1913, 3.
251
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 9. Snell cites Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, August 4, 1907, 8; August 18,
1907, 8; September 8, 1907, 8.
252
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 9. Snell cites Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, September 21, 1913, 3.
253
Snell, "Preliminary Report," 10. Snell cites Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, August 1, 1915, 14;
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, September 12, 1915, 11. Gladys O'Neil, Letter, July 7, 1972, Resource
Management Records, VAMA Cat. 4615, Box 3, ROVA Archives. O'Neil cites "The Cottage Directory" of
The Mt. Desert Herald.
254
O'Neil.
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