The Rockefellers an Enduring Legacy
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The Rockefellers An Enduring Legacy 90 / OCTOBER 2012 / WWW.WESTCHESTERMAGAZINE.COM alfway through a three-hour tour The views from Kykuit were astound- of the Kykuit mansion, the for- ing—possibly the best in Westchester. The mer home to four generations Hudson sparkled like a thousand stars lit up of Rockefellers, it became appar- in the night sky. Surrounding towns, includ- ent that I was going to need to ing Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, looked as Huse the bathroom—a large mug of iced coffee if civilization had yet to move in, the tree- purchased at a Tarrytown café was to blame. tops hiding any sign of human life. I felt like My guide, Corinne, a woman of perhaps 94, a time-traveler whisked back to a bygone era. Look around eagerly led me to a marble bathroom enclosed This must have been the view that had in- by velvet ropes, telling me this may have been spired John D. Rockefeller to purchase land you. How where John D. Rockefeller had spent a great in Westchester in 1893. New York City, where deal of his time. When, after several high- the majority of the Rockefeller family resided, much of decibel explanations, she gathered the nature was just 31 miles away and a horse-drawn car- of my request, I was ushered away from the riage could make the journey to the estate in the land, tour by two elderly women carrying walkie- less than two hours. It was the perfect family talkies, taken down a long flight of wooden retreat, a temporary escape from city life. stairs, through a cavernous servant’s kitchen, As we entered the giant stone mansion, I the views, past the subterranean art gallery—complete turned and took one final look at Westchester with works by Picasso and Warhol—and, fi- and its surrounding environs. I couldn’t help and even nally, down a dimly lit hallway that smelled of but wonder what had happened in the 120 wood varnish. years since the Rockefellers had arrived in the art can One of the women, identified by a plastic Pocantico Hills. Their name was synonymous name tag as “Rose,” dressed in neatly pressed with money and power, but was there more to be traced khakis and a polo shirt, stood guard at the their legacy? What kind of mark had they left bathroom door, her walkie-talkie crackling on Westchester? Who were the major players? back to one with instructions from an unknown male How is their presence felt today? voice, while the other disappeared up the Surprisingly, most of my questions would stairs. I had the feeling that Rose suspected be answered by a single photograph taken 75 family? Here, I might attempt to lift a memento from the years earlier at the Tarrytown train station. bathroom as a keepsake—perhaps the ster- how the ling-silver pull-chain from the toilet or one n May 25, 1937, a group of men (five of the gilded faucet handles from the marble brothers accompanied by their fa- Rockefellers sink. But no, I was not planning to pocket O ther) gathered on the north platform a piece of Rockefeller history. In truth, the of the Tarrytown train station. Each man wore forever grandeur and opulence of the mansion had a three-piece suit and polished black leather exhausted my senses and I was grateful for a shoes, most adding a neatly folded pocket made their quiet moment of reflection. square and tall felt homburg. Their neckties I thought back to the beginning of the were nearly identical, each knotted in a simple mark on tour. After passing though a security check- yet elegant half-Windsor. The day was unusual- point manned by three uniformed guards, ly hot for May, well into the 80s, but the group the bus began the mile-long uphill trek to the seemed unfazed by the burden of their formal Westchester. mansion’s front gate. The rolling lawns that attire. Before the next train pulled into the sta- preceded it were unlike any I had ever seen— tion, an enterprising photographer bunched not a blade of grass seemed overgrown or out the men together for a last minute photo. of place; the mow pattern reminded me of the On the left is John Jr., the father, smiling parallel light and dark rows commonly found and bespectacled, his arms loosely crossed. To in the outfields of major league ballparks. his left are sons David, on summer break from Noticing my interest in the lawn, Corinne ea- graduate school at Harvard, staring plaintively gerly launched into a story about a man who, down the tracks; Nelson, the future governor By Nathan Laliberte a few years back, had attempted to walk on of New York and eventual vice president under the grass without permission. “He was quickly Gerald Ford, gazing sternly into the distance; subdued,” she said. Winthrop, a Yale graduate and future gover- As we reached the front gate, a man nor of Arkansas, peering impishly over his dressed in blue gardeners’ overalls emerged brother’s shoulders; Laurance, a prominent from the ground. Corinne explained that the philanthropist and venture capitalist lost in property had been constructed with a sophis- his own thoughts; and John III, the oldest of ticated set of subterranean passageways with the brothers, flashing a broad grin as if posing pipes that ran water to the many fountains for a Macy’s catalog. Sadly, he would die, 41 on the property—the largest being a 30-foot years later, in a horrific car wreck just half a replica of Giambologna’s Oceanus Fountain mile from where this photo was taken. that was built on the edge of a cliff overlook- If you had been a bystander to this scene, ing the Hudson. you might guess this rowdy bunch was headed WWW.WESTCHESTERMAGAZINE.COM / OCTOBER 2012 / 91 (Clockwise from below): Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, created by David Rockefeller and Peggy Dulany; Kykuit, the Hudson- side estate that housed four generations of Rockefellers; John D. Rockefeller, Jr., comissioned a replica of Giambologna’s fountain to elevate the Hudson to the level of the Nile, Euphrates, and Ganges. to New York for a lavish dinner party at The Plaza. But, in fact, these patriarch of the Rockefeller fortune, playing a central role in efforts six men, the famous Rockefeller boys, have come to collect the body to preserve the wealth for future Rockefeller generations and con- of the world’s richest man, John D. Rockefeller, the former president tinue the family’s global philanthropic efforts. Speaking of the train of Standard Oil, founder of the family fortune, and the nation’s first station photo, David recalled in his 2003 memoirs, “Looking at the billionaire, who had died at his estate in Ormand Beach, Florida, at picture today, I find it remarkable how well it captured our relation- the age of 97, two days earlier. This moment, sealed in time by a ships with one another, where we were in life, and, perhaps, where single photograph, marked the beginning of the second phase of a we were all going.” legacy that would, in the 75 years that followed, imbue a profound Perhaps David’s most significant contribution to Westchester was and indelible effect on the place we call home. also the most controversial. In 2001, he, along with his daughter, Peggy Dulany, made plans to open the Stone Barns Center for Food ake a look at David. He’s the chap standing next to his father and Agriculture. The 80-acre farm in Pocantico Hills, a hamlet in with his fist tightly clenched. At 21, he’s also the youngest the town of Mount Pleasant, donated by David to the Stone Barns T of the brothers. If he looks like he is doing his best to force Restoration Corporation, was designed to be wholly self-sustaining, a smile, it’s probably for good reason. After all, he is flanked by his with a for-profit restaurant and café serving to offset the costs of a father, who was notorious for presiding over the family with an iron nonprofit organic farm and agriculture education center. As part of fist, and his domineering brother Nelson, who largely ignored him an effort to finance the tremendous cost of the project—which had during their childhood years. A shy boy, David has just started to soared to nearly $30 million by late 2002—the final component of emerge from his shell after completing a year of graduate econom- David’s proposal called for building a 75-room hotel and a number ics work at Harvard. At the end of the summer, he will set sail for of luxurious private houses on a 94-acre parcel of land within the London to conclude his graduate degree at the London School of Rockefeller Estate. Economics. This caused an uproar within the closely knit and notoriously Upon his return from London, he enrolled at the University private Rockefeller clan. In a 2002 New York Times article, an anony- of Chicago (founded 47 years earlier by his grandfather, John D. mous family member was quoted as saying, “The hotel is absolutely Rockefeller) to complete a PhD in economics and, after a tour of ser- unacceptable. We are already up in arms, but quietly. I feel like this vice in the army, began a long career in banking that would conclude [the Rockefeller Estate] is the Central Park of Westchester and that with a 12-year tenure as chairman and CEO of the Chase Manhattan none of it should be developed.” Writer Ben Cheever weighed in too: Bank, N.A., and The Chase Manhattan Corporation in New York “This land is public, or has been treated as public for decades.