Captain’s Blog
Friday, Day 6
Nickerson Beach Campground, Long Island, NY
We’ve been blessed again by great weather. We didn’t venture too far from the campground today taking a 20 minute ride to Old Westbury Gardens and the Westbury House.
Link: http://www.oldwestburygardens.org/
The House and Gardens belong to the Phipps family The Phipps family did not come from a family of means. In fact, Henry Phipps Sr., a cobbler from Shropshire, England moved with his wife and three sons to Allegany city, PA in 1845.
Henry Phipps Jr. was a neighbor and childhood friend of Andrew Carnegie whose mother would bind shoes made by Henry’s father. The children would gather in the cobbler shop and talk about their future. These boyhood dreams were fulfilled by the rising fortune of the Carnegie Steele Company.
In 1870 , Henry Jr. married Annie Shafer and in 1874 John (Jay)Shaffer Phipps was born, their oldest son and second of five children.
After completing his education at Yale and Harvard Law School , Jay married Margarita Grace, a member of the Grace Shipping Line. In 1904 Jay took over the family business and purchased 175 acres in Westbury, Long Island..
By 1910 Jay’s family was complete with four children. Life at the Westbury House was a happy place with party’s for the children and lots of land to play the sports Jay loved – Polo and Horses. For Peggy’s 10th birthday she was presented with a half-timbered thatched cottage with bright flowery borders.
It has been said that life in this home was a happy one. The children and dogs were allowed to run free and enjoy themselves.
At the close of the 1950’s , the deaths of two of the brothers within a year’s span altered the course of life at Westbury House. Peggie was overcome by the realization that all of the beauty of the house and grounds may be lost forever once the family had passed. With the help of her husband and generosity of her brothers she was able to set up a foundation to establish “Old Westbury Gardens.”
The home is approximately 6600 sq. feet. Although quite large it has a warm and homey atmosphere. The design of the home was based on the English Manor her mother had lived in only on a smaller scale. Because it has stayed in the family the home has all of its’ original furnishings including the china and silverware. As part of the maintenance on the property and to insure that guests will be welcomed when they come to tour it is expected that fresh flowers be placed around the mansion for all to enjoy.
Throughout the home and gardens one does feel welcomed and could imagine living here and enjoying the warmth of the home and beauty of the surrounding landscape.
Our next adventure took us to Sands Point Preserve where we had hoped to tour the Hempstead House one of the few remaining Gold Coast era mansions available for private events. It was closed for touring and we were unable to walk around the exterior of the mansion because they were filming bridal scenes throughout the property. We couldn’t decide if they were filming a movie of a documentary on brides.
Link: http://www.sandspointpreserve.org/
Again, we had a great day. Ronnie keeps repeating how happy he is and that he still can’t believe we are back on the road. The look on his face and tone of his voice is great to see and hear.
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