To the manor born

Chester — Before the Great Depression, before the income tax, before the world wars, a mansion was built on the shores of Glenmere Lake. The builder was Robert Goelet IV (1880-1966), the nature-loving scion of one of the world’s wealthiest families. The Goelets had migrated to America during Colonial times, starting out as hardware merchants and eventually becoming financiers. One of Robert’s ancestors founded the Chemical Bank. The family came to control a fortune of tens of millions of dollars, a formidable sum for the time. They were also leaders in New York society. Robert IV built a mansion that would accommodate the grandest parties, indoors and out. He hired Carrere & Hastings, architects of such iconic buildings as the New York Public Library and the Guggenheim Museum, to build a 32-room Tuscan villa on his 8,000-acre estate at Glenmere. “Glenmere Court,” as it was known at the time, was completed in 1911. Guests ice skated on the lake and raced horses around it. They skied the hillsides that slope down to its shore. Goelet also made Glenmere the site of much sporting activity. In his 1934 book “Guns and Gunning,” Captain Paul A. Curtis calls Glenmere “one of the biggest private preserves in North America.” He rapturously describes “ducks coming over me in a constant stream” during a hunting expedition there. Curtis was among “eight guns,” most of them “international sportsmen ... with wide experience in shooting driven game in Scotland and Europe.” On a single day at Glenmere, they set a record by bagging 510 ducks and 300 pheasants. “I do not believe that a greater percentage of ducks was ever killed in America in such a short period,” he wrote. Glenmere was also a training ground for Labrador retrivers, the show stock of the American Kennel Club. The first retriever field trial in the United States was held at Glenmere Court on Dec. 21, 1931. W. Averell Harriman won the American-Bred Stake at that first trial. Years earlier, the New York Times had described Glenmere’s kennels as having “the finest group of West Highland terriers and Great Danes in North America.” As members of the Goshen Driving Club, Harriman and Goelet also shared a passion for horses. A New York Times article from 1914 describes “ice trotting” races on New Year’s Day “incidental to the housewarming of Mr. Goelet’s new home.” Goelet, Harriman, and Richard Delafield raced on the lake ice with “other owners of fast horses living in the immediate vicinity.” This “old-fashioned, exhilarating, and exciting sport is having a revival this winter all through the country,” the Times concluded. Other guests enjoyed the estate’s new toboggan slide whose length ran “a mile or more,” according to the Times. Modern times Robert’s son Peter set up a short-wave radio while his parents were in Europe, using it to broadcast his parents’ views on the Depression, foreign affairs, and other government issues until the feds shut the unlicensed station down. The Warwick Historical Society has a manuscript titled “Memories of Wilfred (Bill) L. Raynor, Jr.,” a first-person account of radio days at WGNY, the legitimate station Peter later established at the estate. Back then WGNY played “hillbilly band” music, and it’s still around today, playing “golden oldies” out of Newburgh. The station is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. More recently Glenmere evolved into “the place” to have a wedding or reception because of its breathtaking grounds. Robert was an avid bird watcher and environmentalist with a degree from the Yale School of Forestry, and his role in designing and caring for the property and its trees is still evident today. Glenmere’s gardens are a legacy of their own. They were designed by Beatrix Farrand, the pre-eminent landscape architect of the era, known not only for her gardens but for her writing about them. Her aunt was the novelist Edith Wharton; Farrand designed the gardens at Wharton’s estate “The Mount” in Lennox, Mass. (now in danger of foreclosure). Farrand designed the Rose Garden at the White House and many other famous gardens. Her terraced hillside gardens are wild and free, but her creations also include formal, brick-lined gardens with arches, fountains, and statues. Robert’s estate was converted in the 1930s to the Glenmere Hotel, which served as a retreat for heads of state, sport stars, and musicians. Jay Westerveld, president of the Sugar Loaf Historical Society, remembers the glamor of more recent times. “I had the opportunity to live on the estate ... and the memories I have of the lavish parties held there are the stuff of F. Scott Fitzgerald,” he wrote in a letter to the editor. Westerveld credits its most recent owner, Rick Mandel, for “saving Glenmere mansion from the wrecking ball in the mid-1980s.” Mandel “painstakingly restored the condemned villa to its present splendor over the ensuing decades.” The next chapter in the estate’s long history is eagerly anticipated. Glenmere’s current owners hired architect Chris DeHaan to turn the estate into a bed and breakfast. Plans include adding a pool, a spa, and a restaurant. To keep the peace and quiet, golf carts will be used to travel the property and move supplies around. The owners say they will spare no expense, and will do whatever it takes to bring the property back to its original splendor. They expect Glenmere’s connection to the past will make it a popular destination well into the future.