Is Rockwood Hall still standing?
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Chase National Bank had acquired Rockwood's mortgage and began foreclosing on the property. In 1938, John Jr. purchased Rockwood Hall Country Club and its 220 acres from Chase Bank for $244,374 in bankruptcy court. By 1941, John Jr. found no use for the site and its buildings were deteriorating severely, so he prepared to demolish the buildings. In late 1941 and early 1942, John Jr. ordered the demolition of the mansion, coachhouse, greenhouses, powerhouse, barn, chicken house, pigeonhouse, sheds, and boathouse; only excluding the two gatehouses. Debris was to be dumped into the Hudson River, and care was taken to not damage the property's retaining walls, trees, shrubs, roads, and terraces. The last remaining structures are the gatehouse on U.S. Route 9 and the terraced foundation of the mansion.
Rockwood Hall
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Rockwood was born in Holliston, Massachusetts to Luther Rockwood and Ruth Perry, Rockwood. He married Nancy Ruth Haven on April 4, 1827. His interests were temperance, anti-slavery, military tactics and medicine. His wife Nancy Haven was a first cousin to Brigham Young and Willard Richards. In 1836, Brigham Young and Joseph Young stayed at the Rockwood home in Holliston, Mass. (still standing) and left a copy of the Book of Mormon with Albert, who went by "AP," and Nancy.
Albert P. Rockwood
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The historic district extends along Rockwood Road from Boardman Street southeasterly, ending just before the railroad tracks. Although the latter were important to the community's growth, and there is still a commuter rail stop there, it no longer has a historic station house. Most of the buildings in the district are residences built between about 1850 and 1900, although there are examples of older and newer buildings. The oldest buildings in the district are probably Mann House at 16 Rockwood Road (c. 1806), and the Darius Ware House at 29 Rockwood Road, which dates to about 1814. The only originally non-residential building in the district is the Norfolk Grange Hall, which was built as a Baptist church in 1863, and was the first church to be built away from the historic Town Hill area.
Rockwood Road Historic District
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Rockefeller intended the house to be his summer retreat, yet in his later years it became his year-round home. In 1922, Rockefeller died within Rockwood Hall, leaving the property empty. His funeral took place in Rockwood Hall, with a service by the rector of Saint Mary's Episcopal Church, which Rockefeller regularly attended. The gates of the estate were closed and guarded by policemen during the affair.
Rockwood Hall
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Rockefeller's heirs put the property up for sale, however no individual buyer could be found. At this point, the mansion was closed, its furnishings were removed, and about 20 caretakers were tending to the property. The first breakup of his property was a sale to Frank Vanderlip. In 1924, Vanderlip purchased 57 acres of Rockwood Hall's riverfront property to add to his estate, Beechwood. The bulk of the estate was purchased that same year by a group of investors, who formed Rockwood Hall, Inc. Their company purchased the property (with 210 acres west of Route 9 and 600 acres east) for around $1 million. The group converted the estate into a country club with a golf course, a swimming pool, and other facilities. The company formed Rockwood Hall Country Club and took out a mortgage with the Equitable Trust Company of New York, which was acquired by Chase Bank in 1930. Its 18-hole golf course was designed by Emmet & Tull in 1929. Rockwood Hall Country Club hired noted Australian golfer Joe Kirkwood Sr. to be the club's first golf professional.
Rockwood Hall
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The Rockwood Hall club was building up debts, especially during the Great Depression, which began in 1929. The club was ultimately not financially successful, and declared bankruptcy in 1936. During the summer of 1937, Rockwood Hall Country Club leased the house and grounds to the Washington Irving Country Club and the coachhouse and stable to the Washington Irving Theater during Rockwood's foreclosure suit. The coachhouse and stable were remodeled and began showing summer productions beginning in 1938 and ending by 1940.
Rockwood Hall
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In 2014 and 2015, the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a nearby non-profit farm, tended sheep and goats at Rockwood Hall. The effort was described as an experiment in land management to improve landscape health and ecosystem function, as well as possibly to increase access to land for beginning farmers by allowing them access to parks and other public lands. During the project, a shepherd would rotate the flock every few days through a series of paddocks, coaxing the animals to graze invasive plants like akebia and porcelain berry. The project gave the center additional land and forage for sheep, and helped control invasive plants and improve soil health. Local supporters of the project included New York Life, which supplied water, and the nearby retirement community Kendal on Hudson. From July to November 2014, the farm tended 50 sheep and 7 goats in the pastures of Rockwood Hall. In 2015, 10 Boer goats, 30 Tunis sheep, and 50 Finn Dorset sheep were moved to Rockwood Hall to graze.
Rockwood Hall
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Rockwood practiced plural marriage and fathered 22 children. He died in Sugar House, Utah Territory, at his home on Elizabeth Street at approximately 1200 East and 2500 in Salt Lake City, Utah (no longer standing), where he was surrounded by his family and friends.
Albert P. Rockwood
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Importer and merchant Edwin Bartlett obtained the property around 1848, demolished the farmhouse, and built Rockwood, an English Gothic castle of locally-quarried stone. Bartlett hired Gervase Wheeler to design the house, which was built in 1849.
Bartlett sold the house to his business partner William Henry Aspinwall in 1860; Aspinwall made it his summer home and improved the property and house, and purchased enough land to make his estate . Aspinwall would often travel from New York City to the property via his yacht "Firefly", which he could moor to his dock at Rockwood Hall.
Rockwood Hall
42947572#0
Rockwood Hall was a Gilded Age mansion in Mount Pleasant, New York, on the Hudson River. It was best-known as the home of William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller, both co-founders of the Standard Oil Company. Other owners of the house or property included Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, William Henry Aspinwall, and Lloyd Aspinwall. The property was once up to in size; the mansion at its height had 204 rooms, making it the second-largest private house in the U.S. at the time, only behind the Biltmore mansion in North Carolina. The estate is currently an section of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve.
Rockwood Hall