Drive. Pray. Scream?: Day 94: Tarnished Reflection

Our final national park site in the Hudson River Valley...the Vanderbilt mansion, known as Hyde Park. The first impression is of opulence and beauty. But on closer inspection, we found ourselves less enamored of it. Built to impress the Vanderbilts' peers in society (although as the wealthiest people in America at the end of the 19th century, everyone else was below them in some capacity), the mansion keeps the focus on the interior, with few windows that capture the beautiful view of the Hudson River. The house is decorated with many indirect messages of status and wealth, from tapestries containing symbols of the Medici family (the wealthiest and most powerful people in 15th century Italy) to throne-like chairs on which the hosts sat during dinner parties. Basically, the house is all about its owners.

One of its guests, 19-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt, remembered later in life that she stayed in a pink bedroom and was instructed to use the provided pink robe and slippers so as to blend with the house. She did not like the house and felt it out of place and even an eyesore. (Kendall didn't understand that bit...how could Mrs. Roosevelt not love a house that had a pink room?) The land and original house were purchased in the late 1800s by Frederick and Louisa Vanderbilt; he was one of the seven grandchildren of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built a fortune through the railroad and shipping. Frederick's siblings also built monumental homes, two of which we saw in Newport, Rhode Island. One of his brothers, George, created Biltmore, the largest residence in the nation, in Asheville, NC.

After purchasing the property for $125,000, Frederick and Louisa learned from their designers that the original home was structurally compromised. It was torn down and replaced by the current 17-room home for $2.25 million...including the interior decoration. Their 50-year marriage did not produce children, and upon Frederick's death in 1938 (Louisa had died 12 year earlier), their estate was divided among 55 people as stated in his will. The house, 300 acres of adjoining land and $5 million went to a niece. She was a woman of wealth hereself and didn't want to be burdened with the home (the Vanderbilts had a staff of 60 to maintain it). She tried to sell it and the land for $350,000...no takers. She dropped the price to $250,000...still no takers. When FDR suggested she donate it to the park service in 1940, she jumped at the chance to unload it. It opened for tours that same year, with nearly everything left in place from the Vanderbilts' years.

One fact about Frederick we found very appealing was that of the 55 people who received a portion of his estate, 32 of them were or had been house staff...from the Hyde Park superintendent down to a scullery maid. And many institutions throughout the country have benefitted from the generosity of many in the Vanderbilt family. We like to believe that the Vanderbilts received some satisfaction from their gifts, and that their focus wasn't entirely inward, as Hyde Park and some of the family's other mansions seem to demonstrate.