Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-11-11
NEW WHITE |. USE ON THE SEA
Shadow Lawn Has Had a RO-
mantle Past-Cost S1,000,000.
GlOrics of Old-Time Summer Resort
on Jersey Coast Are Expected to
De Revived by Coming of Pres
ident and His Bride.

In the acceptance by President Will
son of Shadow Lawn as summer
home for himself and his bride those
who know the Jersey coast look Tor
something more than the location of the
summer capital at Elberon.
They look for revival of the old days
when Long Branch was Long Brahcn
and the rival of Newport as social
center. with a gayety that the Rhode
Island resort never knew.
In a way the life that the old south
coast of Jersey used to know Will not
come back There are no Morrisseys now
to run clubhouses where the limit of
Dlav was the roof. nor would public opin-
ion permit them to do business If they
were still among the living. but a gayly
quiet life where entertainment and dance
follow dance Is looked for
To this the coming of the President
with his bride Is expected 10 contribute
the controlling impulse-a bride in the
White House has ever meant brilliant
season.
| Shadow Lawn, which in itself stands as
a monument to the glories of other days
thus becomes the center Of the new
glories.
! In Shadow Lawn, too. there has been
tragedy, for 1t was the conception of
John A. Mccall. the poor Albany boy
/ who became a power in the insurance
world at the height Of his affluence and
power, only to lose it in the days that
| followed the insurance scandal
| Mccall built it when Elberon and Long
Branch were at the peak of their G!orles
! Upon 1t he lavished money, but he never
got from II fraction of the pleasure
he thought the 100000 it cost him would
bring. The show place in district de-
voted to show places 1t passed from MS
hands when the insurance scandal broke
and for several seasons lay idle an item
: OF EXPENSE to those who owned ii and
reminder to others of what might nave
been.
| II was in 1912 that Mccall, then presl-
dent of the New York Life Insurance
company, completed Shadow Lawn. Four
Years later he was forced to part with
II the price mentioned at the time being
only 100000. 1t was then planned to
use the mansion house as club and
divide spacious grounds into bungalow
sitcs. but Myron II. Oppenheim, who
took the property over for that purpose,
could not put his scheme through.
Then 1t passed to the hands of Abraham
White. who gained fame and wealth on
two cents invested In a stamp by sub
scribing to millions OF government bonds
at a price that induced bankers to take
his allotment off his hands at a big profit.
White paid even less thar Oppenheim-
100000 was the cost to him. but he could
not swing it. and two years later Joseph
b. Greenhut took it over. That was in
1909 Since then Captain Greehut has used
tho place. but he. too. has had his finan-
cial reverses. and this year. when it was
known that the place was again likely
to he closed for the summer, Il group of
prominent property holders launched the
movement to tender its use to the Pres-
dent. In the White House by the sea, as
Shadow Lawn will now be known, the Pre-
sident and his bride will find plenty of
! room
Surrounded by 30 acres OF lawns and
nearly 80 other acres under cultivation or
improved as wooded park, the house it.
self is not easily accessible from the out
| side world Broad drives wind out to
Norwood and Ceda, avenues. which
bound the property on the east and south,
and a box hedge running along the en-
tire place discouragcs the over-inqusl-
tive passerby. Costly shrubs and trees
are scattered everywhere.
A shaded tennis court, with canopied
seats for spectators. hides behind a
ciump of naples in the park. and not far
away is what the younger McCalls
cherished as the pride of the estate-a
lroomy outdoor swimming pool. A rustic