Sunday, November 3, 2013
Some memories from C.V. Whitney...
Below are some recollections by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney from his memoir High Peaks published in 1977. The following takes place on the Whitney estate in Old Westbury between his birth in 1899 and when he was sent to boarding school in 1911...
"My boyhood home was a glorious country estate of some thousand acres near Old Westbury, Long Island. It was a big red brick house situated on top of a hill, with rolling green pastures to the south and a wild forest to the north. Dominating the estate was a brick tower that stood two hundred feet high with a windmill on top, supplying us with water from a well in the sands below. We had a stable full of horses, a good-sized kennel, an outdoor tennis court and swimming pool, and an indoor gymnasium replete with bowling alley and squash court. And those rolling green pastures to the south of the house were dotted with fruit trees, a huge vegetable garden, a herd of Jersey cows, and lots of chickens, pigs, and pigeons. In those days there was always ample help to maintain an estate of that size."
"It was all very grand, I must say, except for my spartan quarters in the attic. I, the middle child and only son, had a tiny bedroom with a cot, a small bathroom adjoining, and an empty storeroom beyond. No one else lived in the attic, for which I was very grateful, for I prized my privacy. My sisters, Flora and Barbara, and their French governess occupied sumptuous bedrooms with a large playroom on the second floor. My sisters reveled in their surroundings every bit as much as I did mine. In those days boys were never roomed within striking distance of girls."
"In a vacant room in our home in Old Westbury I kept a collection of birds' eggs, each identified and catalogued. The family knew about my egg collection, but nothing about my collection of snakes. That is why I prized my privacy up there in the attic. My very special pet was a three-foot king snake for whom I trapped mice which I fed him regularly. One Sunday when I must have been full of mischief, I coiled him around my neck and marched downstairs where luncheon was about to be served. The huge dining room was filled with friends of my parents and to this day I can recall their open-mouthed shock at the sight of my snake and me. My father promptly ordered me to my room where I spent the rest of the afternoon. I sat on my cot staring down at the bread and water sent up for my lunch, mindful of the fact that downstairs my sisters were probably eating ice cream after a delicious turkey with cranberry sauce."
Labels:
Old Westbury,
Whitney
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5 comments:
this is awesome
wonderful reading....I attended architectural college in the stable that formerly held the cattle and horses....amazing place and interesting to read his childhood memories.
I am an architect who grew up in Huntington and was impressed by the chimney tops of the otto kahn castle and the ruins of the Ferguson castle, enough to spur me on to want to study architecture. I now live in the middle east (for work)as an architect and have taken great joy in reading your blog of all the wonderful places i grew up surrounded with. I almost wept when i read the fate of Dark Hollow (oliver jennings in Lloyd Harbor) I had tried to buy it back in late 90s however my low ball bid was not accepted (in those days, 4,000,000 USD asking price was a great deal of money. i suppose it still is) One of my neighbors grew up in Caumsett, his father was Al Kuntz, and he has told us the most amazing stories of life on that estate with all of the beautiful John Russel Pope architecture. Thank you again for all of these nostalgic images and wonderful memories of Long Island / Frank Tomaselli architect_kuwait@hotmail.com
Marvelous piece---and a reminder that childhood experiences are universal, whatever the surrounding (that said I suddenly think of Dina Merrill as a child, riding her pet sea tortoise aboard 'Sea Cloud"---maybe not so much)
Alas, the "dairy herd of Jersey cows" must have been long gone by the time that LIFE magazine took the photograph of Sunny Whitney in middle age among his herd of Angus beef cattle, a favorite tax deduction for the well-heeled during the 50's and 60's.
Alas, I too recall the herd of black Angus as you turned off Wheatley Rd onto Post with the herd grazing before us. This was in the late 50's.
Bernard Lawson, Catawba Farms
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