Evening star., 1909-07-13
ABSENCE OF THE OWNERS
Sublime View From Frederick Van
derbilt's Palace.
EQUINE PENs1oNER OF FAME
Aldine. Formerly Driven by William
B. Vanderbilt Now Occupies a
Box Stall at Hyde Park.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

Chicago Record Herald.
HYDE PARK-ON-THE-HCD y. Y.
July II. 1909.
About two miles below Poughkeepsie,
between the old stage road to Albany and
the river. concealed beneath the far
reaching branches of ancient locust trees
which today are loaded with clusters of
flowers tha. fill the air with their per-
fume, is the former home of Prof. Sam
| uel f. +. Morse, the inventor of the cleo
trio telegraph; and there many of his
experiments in claiming the lightning
were conducted. He called it Locust
Grove. a name much more appropriate
than most Of those imposed upon the es-
tates along the river. a visitor, writing
fifty years ago, said: ''The mansion Is
embossed in trees. on an eminence over
looking the river. and is one of the most
charming retreats along the Hudson
That description holds good today; but
the place is now owned and occupied by
Mr.. Young, New York lawyer, and the
Morse family are scattered over the face
of the earth. William G. Morse, the eld-
est son. lives somewhere i'm Texas, ac-
| cording to the latest knowledge Of Pougt1-
Franz Rimmell. famous pianist, and
lives in Paris, and a granddaughter,
Leila Morse, is professional singer.
Fine Road for Motor Cars.
North of Poughkeepse and as far as
the town of Hudson is a series of most
attractive homes owned by rich men OF
New York city. Interspersed between
them are numerous villages, made UP of
people of less means, but the same de-
sire for pure air and taste for beautiful
Tl,4 Il hirrl1rr- I, q l.,
lei with the Hudson river, on the top of
the cliff from 100 to 30 feet above the
water. is almost a dead level, and it is
one OF the most beautiful roads in the
world. From Poughkeepsie northward
for many miles it is almost completely
shaded by the overhanging boughs of
grand old oaks, elms, chestnutS, NAPLES,
locusts and other trees many of which
are primeval. and all just now in their
full glory.
For forty miles more north the road
is equal to any in England. Ireland. Scot
land or on the continent. and the scenery
or the Hudson is unsurpassed in any Of
those countries for it's kind l do not
know of an automobile tour in any
part of the world that has greater at
fractions. The inns are as neat and we'll
kept as those of England and France
and the conveniences that perfect motor
tour requires are found here quite as
well as the attractions.
villages as you go along and hire car
riages if you want to see the grounds and
the houses of the rich inhabitants be-
cause motor cars are prohibited from en-
tering their gates. 1t is perfectly natural
that they should object to having red
devils and white devils and other kinds
of devils rushing along their private roads
leaving trail of offensive odors and de-
stroying the quiet with their ''honks,"
but almost without exception the owners
these
enough to open their gates to all comers
on foot, on horseback or in carriages.
Visitors can obtain section maps. giving
the names of the owners and showing
the roadways through the different pri-
vate parks.
Absenteeism Prevalent
The most aggravatng feature of the
experience. however. is that so many Of
these beautiful places are unoccupied, the
houses are closed, and the owners are
''gallivanting' around Europe. where they
can find nothing more attractive and
nothing so comfortable as their own mag
nificent homes. Almost every one of the
grand houses has a farm attached to it.
a dairy, and hothouSes from which the
owners receive fruit and vegetables. win
ter and summer; cream and butter. and
everything else they require for their
tables. except beef and groceries. but
flavor of ownership they cost much more
than anything that can be bought in the
regular market You remember the joke of
the rich man who offered his guests fresh
milk and champagne: Take your choice
he remarked. both cost me about the
same" and the statement was undoubt-
edly true. 1t takes an immense amount
of money to maintain these beautiful
parks and fancy farms and dairies. Miss
Helen Gould has 100 people on her pay
>i<rhl
and down the river. i am confident, have
a corresponding number.
Fred Vanderbilt Estate. {.
Mr.. Fred Vanderbilt has the finest
place in these parts. I have seen no
country home in England, Ireland or on
the continent that will surpass 1T for
beauty, for comfort, for landscape gar
dening for scientific farming and for
those other qualities that are required
to make a perfect country seat. 1t ad-
Joins the ancient village of Hyde Park,
one of the oldest settlements on the
river. with population of seven or eight
hundred people, many of whom are In
his employ. The rest are farmers. trades
men and business men from the city of
moderate means, who come here for the
summer months and live in cozy, COM
Portable cottages.
The late William II. Vanderbilt left
four sons and four daughters. His sons
were Cornelius. William V, Frederick and
George His daughters are Mrs. Shep-
herd, Mrs. Sloane, Mrs. Webb and Mrs.
Parmalee. To each member of his fam
ily he bequeathed S5,OOO,OO0 and the re-
mainder of the estate vast left in
trust, with the four sons as trustees.
Cornelius is dead William V. lives in
Paris. George lives in Biltmore, n. c.,
where he is a student of nature and
books, which leaves Fred Vanderbilt to
look after the estate, which is one of the
largest in the world and requires a great
deal of attention and sagacity. That
makes him one of the busiest men in
New York, and he earns every dollar he
receives.
During the winter he lives in his
fathers old home at the corner of 37th
street and 9TH avenue. and he formerly
had a place at Newport, where he spent
his summers, but several years ago he
bought his present seat at Hyde Park
which has been famous for two centu-
ries, although it has never had name
1t was originally granted by the king
to Edward Faulkner, private secretary
to Edward Hyde. afterward Lord Corn
bury, when the latter was Governor OF
New Amsterdam, toward the end of the
seventeenth century. In time the estate
passed into the possession of DR.. Bard
a noted physician. who lived here
through the revolutionary period and
was one of the most famous scientific
and a naturalist. and his successor in
the ownership, DR.. Hoosach, Scotch
man, was also a physician and a botan-
st Both of them collected trees and
plants from all parts of the world and
planted them here for Mr.. Vanderbilt to
enjoy a century later.
The English author of book called