Rockwood Hall Inside & Out: Exploring Westchester’s Lost Treasure

Developed by William A. Rockefeller in 1884, his estate “Rockwood Hall” in Mt. Pleasant in Westchester County, was declared “the second most impressive home in America.” Vanderbilt’s “Biltmore” in North Carolina was the first. Rockwood Hall itself contained 200 rooms and no expense was spared in its’ design, construction, and furnishings. Occupying nearly 1,000 acres along the Hudson River, equal precision was put to the design of the estate landscape, gardens, out buildings and carriage trails. Yet by 1941 it would all be gone. Why?

ROCKWOOD HALL INSIDE & OUT with Paul Barrett

Thursday, July 26, at 7:00pm - Larchmont Public Library

Shrouded in mystery, all that remains today is the foundation and terraced staircases, which only adds to the allure and intrigue for the many that visit what is now “Rockwood Hall Park.” Local Historian and Researcher Paul Barrett invites us on a tour of this once commanding Gilded-Age estate. Relying on photographs and images (most unavailable to the general public), his presentation “Rockwood Hall - Inside and Out” takes you around the mansion, into the main hall, through many of the opulently furnished interior rooms, and then guides us through the expansive out-of-doors with views of the lush gardens and estate buildings.

Paul Barrett has become a recognized authority on the subject of Gilded Age estate properties of Tarrytown. During his 20-year association with Lyndhurst, the National Trust property located there, he began to explore and research the ruins of the numerous estates that at one time surrounded Lyndhurst. His investigations have resulted in a very detailed recreation of more than 30-estates that comprised “one of the most condensed mansion districts” in the Hudson Valley at the turn of the last century.

Lacking sentiment and nostalgia, Barrett’s thorough accumulation of visuals and information on buildings, furnishing plan, landscape, outer-building, and even automobiles and pets combined with family social history creates a new form of “preservation” that is timeless and permanent. Paul relocated from Tarrytown to Hudson, NY, 14-years ago. When not researching houses, he is selling them. Paul is a salesperson with Hunt Real Estate handling Columbia and Greene Counties.