More than Meets the Eye: Anna Gould

Lyndhurst Mansion has had many famous residents from former New York City mayor William Paulding to railroad tycoon Jay Gould.  However, I think the most interesting resident and owner was Anna Gould, Jay Gould’s daughter.  A quick google search of Anna immediately links you to her glamorous life in Paris.  Anna was referred to as a dollar princess—she was rather plain but she had a fortune attached to her following the death of her father, Jay Gould.  However, Anna was far from plain and her story is one that deserves to be uncovered and heard.

Anna grew up primarily without any typical female figure in her life.  Her older sister, Helen, married very late and their mother had passed.  Historian Sara Mascia explains that a sister-in-law had to sponsor Anna into society before her wedding at age 19.  She moved to Paris for her marriage, becoming a countess.  She eventually divorced that husband as she felt he spent too much of her money and later married a Duke, who happened to be her first husband’s cousin—it was a bit weird, even for the times.  In Paris, Anna became the perfect Parisian woman, according to Ingrid, my guide at the Defying Label exhibit currently at Lyndhurst.  She was fashionable, thin, and constantly had portraits done.  She was constantly striving to show that she, an American heiress, did belong in society as a French Duchess.

A photo of Anna next to her famous dress- she was known for her style in France

Leading up to World War II and following the death of her husband, Anna left France and returned to New York, renting an entire floor at the Plaza and buying back Lyndhurst from her older sister’s widower.  She preserved the home impeccably, changing barely anywhere but her own bedrooms, which she wanted to be more Parisian.

A painting Anna brought back from France for the art gallery

Anna’s childhood bedroom.

She kept the home open to the public, so that the community could enjoy its resources.  She donated the home to become a historic site.  She, while known as the selfish sister, is the reason why the stories of Lyndhurst continue to live on today.

Unfortunately, Anna’s story is the most hidden of any about Lyndhurst.  On a tour, she is infrequently mentioned and her contributions to the home are often forgotten.  Currently, the Defying Label exhibit gives Anna’s story light as it shows the outfits she wore after returning to America.  These outfits give you an insight into Anna—yes, she was far more selfish than her sister, Helen and yes, she cared greatly about what the world thought of her.  But, the cufflinks she gives her husband with her children’s faces on them and the outfits she gave to Helen show that there was far more to Anna Gould than the selfish, plain woman that meets the eye.  Without Anna Gould, all of the stories of Lyndhurst would be forever hidden—she laid the groundwork so they could be uncovered so now, it’s time for her story to be uncovered.

Dresses Anna was commonly seen wearing following her return to New York

Anna embraced the flapper style dress

 

Two Stories, One Home: Lyndhurst Mansion

Enter someone’s home and you instantly know them better.  A home shows who someone really is and my tour at Lyndhurst Mansion did exactly this for me in regards to William Paulding and George Merritt.  The home showed who they were, who they wanted to be, and who they became.  Join me as we peer into their lives and learn the stories that are thankfully kept alive every single day at Lyndhurst Mansion.

The original owner, William Paulding, former New York City Mayor commissioned the building of Lyndhurst because he wanted an escape from the city, according to my guide, Heinz.   He didn’t want the home to be showy, he just wanted a retreat.  However, it is the 19^th century—whatever was fashionable in Europe was what every American needed, even the humble ones—so the home was built with gothic architecture.  The home was not necessarily very ornate—the ceilings and furniture were rather plain.

A plain ceiling, as it was during Paulding’s time at Lyndhurst

The room I found most interesting from Paulding’s time was the parlor, which was mainly the woman’s room.  Men, at the time, had the opportunity to converse in many settings but women did not have that luxury.  The parlor was their space, where they were free to speak as friends do.

The parlor, featuring a wheel chair, one of two ever made in this  specific style

The home changed greatly when it passed into new hands.  George Merritt, the second owner, was the opposite of William Paulding in many ways.  While Paulding just wanted a retreat, Heinz explained that Merritt wanted his home to show his wealth.  He expanded the home, adding a wing.

 

The wing Merritt added to Lyndhurst

He also had stained glass placed in the windows.  Interestingly, the stained glass Merritt commissioned is one of the greatest mysteries of Lyndhurst—no one is sure who actually designed it.  It is thought to be a Tiffany’s piece, but there is no confirmation.

One of the many stained glass additions Merritt made to the home

The finest addition to the home though is the art viewing gallery on the second floor.  The gallery hung state of the art pieces, ones that you would expect to see the Met and not in a home.  Merritt was trying to show the world that he deserved respect for his wealth.  He wanted people to be in awe of him and the art gallery made people see him in that light.

Paintings that Merritt had commissioned for the ceilings

The art gallery

It is strange to think that two men that wanted such different things could both find it in the same home.  William Paulding did have his country retreat with sprawling views of the river.  George Merritt also had his ostentatious show of wealth through Lyndhurst.  And now, as the home sits with guests coming through every day, both stories lie in the walls, just waiting for someone to take an interest and hear.

 

A Musical Legacy Preserved: The Glen Island Casino

Last post, I wrote about finding the history of Starin’s Glen Island.  The stories Glen Island keeps hidden though go far beyond the theme park.  On the foundation of the resort’s old Grand Café rose the Glen Island Casino and dining hall.  In 1930, with prohibition having survived a decade, the Glen Island Casino was a well-known speakeasy.  However, the music that played throughout the Casino was what drew people in.  Star musicians, such as “Ozzie” Nelson, Les Brown, and Glenn Miller, all got their starts at the Glen Island Casino.  My own grandmother describes going out to the Glen Island Casino as a great affair—people dressed to the nines to come here.   And the place had its fair share of drama, such as with the story of the Dorsey Brothers.  Like many of the big bands of the 1930s, they got their start performing a gig at Glen Island.  However, their orchestra also ended here, after the two brothers got into a huge fight about the tempo for a song during a performance.

An image of the Glen Island Casino at its peak.  (Credit: https://goo.gl/images/U6hSTv)

 

The Casino closed in 1978 but reopened a few years later as a Restaurant.

Unlike Starin’s park, the Casino has been better preserved.  The restaurant that once took its place has come and gone, now being replaced by a catering hall.   Apparently, the second floor has preserved the space where the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s once performed.

The Casino, now known as the Glen Island Harbour Club

Unfortunately, you can only enter what is now called the Glen Island Harbour Club if they are there for an event.  From afar, the place now has a very 80s-feel to it.  It was hard to believe that this was the site of a music boom in the 1940s.

Luckily, the music that once echoed throughout the building has been preserved!  The Glenn Miller Orchestra, one of the most famous groups that performed here, recorded an album in 1939 entitled “Live at Glen Island Casino,” which you can listen to here.

Glen Island had two stories waiting to be heard.  This small island now simply used for family picnics is where the theme park was born.  It was where music careers were started.  It was where Westchester County became an attraction.  The signs of this still stand in the castles and stone structures, in the stage at the restaurant, in the statues that seem slightly out of place.  It just needs to be uncovered.  So here is my uncovering of Glen Island—go visit and uncover it for yourself.

 

The Glen Island Harbour Club, located upon the old Grand Café

 

Starin’s Glen Island: A Theme Park Forgotten In Time

Since I was three years old, I’ve spent my summers at Travers Island, across the water from Glen Island.  I could see the Island from the pool and our boat was docked directly across but I’d only ever visited once, when I was three years old.  I never felt any reason to go back, until while at my internship, I started to research the history of New Rochelle.  Turns out, Glen Island has a pretty wild story to tell.  So let’s take a trip back in time and uncover this story.

Everything begins with former U.S. Congressman John H. Starin, who served in the House of Representatives from 1877-1881.  However, Starin’s two other jobs are what make him so crucial to our story.  He owned a transportation company that included almost every tugboat seen in New York Harbor and many passenger steamboats.  This would come in handy, as in 1878, he purchased a group of small islands off the coast of New Rochelle, New York.  You guessed it—he purchased what would become Glen Island.  Starin created these islands into the first theme park and resort known as Starin’s Glen Island.  This is where our story takes flight.  In 1881, when the park opened, Starin used his steamboats to bring passengers back and forth from New York City to Glen Island.  Below is a map of the resort, showing the many activities guests could participate in.

A map of the resort at Glen Island

The resort had two particularly notable attractions—a Museum of Natural History and a German castle.  This museum was amazing, as it housed mummies from 332 B.C., relics of the Stone Age, and several meteors.  The second attraction was a re-created German castle, which housed the “Little Germany” land.  Keep in mind, it was the nineteenth century—a German land meant having a beer garden.

The castle that once housed the beer garden

The park thrived for twenty years, until things turned sour.  In 1904, one of the island’s steamboats burned, resulting in the deaths of 1,000 people.  The total end to Starin’s Glen Island soon followed with the death of Starin himself.   Without him at the helm, direction was lost and the resort became unprofitable, shutting down.  It seemed the story had come to a close– many of the original parts of the resort burned down but a new chapter began in 1924, when Westchester County purchased the islands.  The county joined all the islands together into one landmass, taking away the waterside walkways guests of the resort had enjoyed.  The county also built a bridge between the island and New Rochelle, linking Glen Island to the rest of the world.

Today, it’s hard to believe that Glen Island ever was the resort Starin created.  The only remains of the park are Little Germany, where two castles and many stone structures still stand. Today, one castle was boarded up and the other, where the beer garden once sat, is used for Westchester County storage. I could walk into a small hut structure, the inside of which has become a place for couples to sign their initials.  Only two plaques on the entire island mention Starin so here’s to his story, a story that deserves to be told.

Part of one of the two Little Germany castles that has now been boarded up.

The hut that is now a couple’s spot.

The inside today of the famous Little Germany castle

A statue, likely from the old carousel at Starin’s Glen Island