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Historical Overview
and entertainments of a quiet character. . . . Dark Harbor, which has been quite a place, this
year, is also being deserted, . . . among those who came down from there for the Cup races. 255
After several summers of renting seaside vacation houses in the quietude of Bar Harbor,
Louise bought Sonogee from Lyman Kendall's widow in the winter of 1919 and used it for the
first time in the summer of 1920. 256 She and Frederick summered there until her death in 1926.
Sonogee sat next to Corfield on Eden Street and was built for Henry Lane Eno (1871-1928) in
1903. Eno was a research associate in psychology at Princeton as well as a poet and author. The
house was modeled on an Italian villa and featured a solid marble staircase. The Vanderbilts
would generally arrive in Bar Harbor around July 4 and stay until just after Labor Day. After
Louise's death, Frederick inherited Sonogee and sold it in 1927 to A. Atwater Kent, an inventor,
entrepreneur, and socialite. 257 A preservation organization purchased the house in 1970 and
opened it as a museum for three years. In 1976 Sonogee became a nursing facility called
Sonogee Estate. Its second story was removed and two wings added to the building. 258
Frederick occasionally rented a large estate on the west coast, and he and Louise would
cross the country on their private railroad car to California. 259
In addition to spending time in various rented and purchased vacation houses, Frederick
and Louise generally spent part of each year aboard one of their yachts. Before the war, they
spent part of the spring cruising in Europe and the Mediterranean. They would cross the
Atlantic on a steamer and have their yacht meet them on the other side. 260 In later years, they
generally spent March and April in Palm Beach, Florida, cruising on one of their yachts. 261 And,
Bar Harbor was a favorite spot for late summer cruising.
Frederick's first yacht was the Conqueror, which he owned from 1889 to 1903. It was a
188-foot, 526-ton iron yacht built by Russell & Co. of Glasgow for $75,000, and it was described
as "the finest steam yacht in the world." 262 In 1904, Frederick purchased the Warrior, which he
owned until it was wrecked in 1914. The Warrior was a 282-foot, twin screw steel yacht with a
breadth at the beam of 32.5 feet. It displaced 1,266 tons of water and was built at Tryon,
255 Untitled newspaper clipping, New York Morning Journal, September 29, 1901, Scrapbook 1894 - 1907,
XX, Shelburne Farms Archives.
256 "You Won't Forget Sonogee," Brochure for Sonogee Mansion, n.d. Photocopy attached to O'Neil
letter cited above.
257 O'Neil. O'Neil cites property transfer records in the collection of Sonogee; Alfred Martin, December
1, 1947; O'Neil, Letter, March 8, 1983, VAMA General File, "F.W. Vanderbilt Homes," ROVA Curatorial
Division.
258 "You Won't Forget Sonogee"; G.W. Helfrich and Gladys O'Neil, "Such, Such Were the Joys" Down
East Magazine (n.d.): 80-89. VAMA General File, "Bar Harbor, Sonogee," ROVA Curatorial Division;
O'Neil, Letter, March 8, 1983.
259 Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript," 10. Snell cites extensive research in the society pages of the
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier from 1890 to 1938.
260 Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript," 10. Snell cites extensive research in the society pages of the
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier from 1890 to 1938.
261 Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript," 10. Snell cites extensive research in the society pages of the
Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier from 1890 to 1938.
262 John W. Leonard, ed. Who's Who in New York City and State (New York: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1907),
1308; Snell, "Historical Handbook Manuscript," 13. Snell cites Andrews, The Vanderbilt Legend, 325;
Lloyd's Register of Yachts, 1910-1911.
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