· ti andcrbilt mansion UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF War Between the States, and represents an Collector and Receiver General and also Hyde Park and built a house on his estate, THE INTERIOR: J. A. KRUG, Secretary important phase of the economic, socio owned extensive tracts of land, including just north of the present St. James Church. logical, and cultural history of America. a part of the patent of Hyde Park. This This was called Red House. He developed National Park Service, Newton B. Drury, Director It was the home of Frederick W. Vander patent was granted in the reign of Queen an orchard of seven or eight hundred apple bilt, a grandson of "the Commodore" Cor Anne, April 18, 1705. The town of Hyde trees an,d many trees of grafted fruit, nelius Vanderbilt, who founded the family Park, established in 182 l , took its name choice English cherries, pears, and plums. fortune in steamboating and railroading. from the estate. After the Revolution, having_ lost consider The mansion itself, figuratively a royal able money through investments in mining palace brought over from Europe, was de and ironworks, he ·returned to private prac ~andrrbilt signed by the famous architectural firm of :!)~jvnwnt o/ the rffdale J!I tice in New York, where he assisted his son, McKim, · Mead, and White, in 1898. Dr. Samuel Bard, as attending physician Much older than the house as a portion of the f18a?ld and ~acle ffwnultea to George Washington, then in his first an estate is the 2 l l -acre grounds, main term as President of the United States. tained as a country seat by prominent After the death of Fauconnier in 1745 or Dr. John Bard retired to Hyde Park a individuals since colonial days, with fine 1746 his share in the patent eventually second time in 1798, and there, a year mansion passed to his granddaughter, Suzanne Val old trees, spreading lawns, and interesting later, he died. gardens which have been carefully devel leau, and her husband, Dr. John Bard, Dr. Samuel Bard received the property oped for generations. who later came to own all of the original by transfer shortly before his father's grant. Also of French descent, Dr. Bard death. Educated at Columbia College was a noted physician and pioneer in and in Edinburgh, where he received his JVatWna/ ~de f!J>WJ
Bed is copied from one of the period of Louis XV The drawing room combines Italian and French decoration Main entrance hall On the fl high elevation rising about 300 feet above plants, flowers, and trees, Dr. Hosack the Hudson River and commanding a founded the Elgin Botanical Garden superb view of this beautiful stream, of (1801), in New York City. This garden the Shawangunk Range to the west, and covered 20 acres, part of it being on the site of the Catskill Mountains to the north. of the present Rockefeller Center district. Improvements were made in the grounds, Dr. Hosack continued his interest in for, to his interest in trees, which he shared horticulture and gardening at Hyde Park, with his father, Dr. Bard added an interest where he ertgaged Andre Parmentier, ' a in horticulture and farming. He imported Belgian landscape gardener, to lay out small fruits from England, larger ones from roads, walks, and scenic vistas. This work France, melons from Italy, and vine_s from was done probably between 1827 and Madeira. The Society of Dutchess County 1830. The many rare and exotic speci for the Promotion of Agriculture made mens which grace the lawns and park him its first president ( 1806), and in appear to date principally from that time. this connection he encouraged the use of clover as a crop and gypsum as a fertilizer. Dr. Samuel Bard and his wife, Mary, lived 3/w ~dtvn Cl/Jui at Hyde Park until 1821, when they "f/cwutm~ f!l>mwcla both died, within about 24 hours of each other. In 1840, five years after the death of Their only surviving son, William Bard, Dr. Hosack, his son and daughter-in-law, inherited Hyde Park, then reduced by land Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Hosack, sold the sales to 540 acres, but lived there only mansion tract to John Jacob Astor. Mr. Astor almost immediately made a gift of until about l 82 7, when he sold the estate the estate to his daughter, Dorothea Lang to Dr. David Hosack, of New York City. don, and her children, Eliza, Louisa, Wal Dr. Hosack, who had been a professor of ter, Jr., Woodbury, and Eugene Langdon. Natural History at Columbia College, was Walter Langdon, Jr., eventually bought a former partner of Dr. Samuel Bard, and out the property interests of his mother, the legatee of the latter's medical practice sisters, and brothers, and by 1853 had be when he retired. Deeply interested in come sole owner. He continued to live at
The gold room, a French salon of the On the floor of the dining room is an Ispahan rug over 300 years old Louis XV period Hyde Park until his death in 1894 Dur ing this long period the greenhouses and "Af~ !/~