MESSINA— A COUNTRY SEAT ON THE HUDSON. 



For almost the entire distance of this fifty miles, the east bank of the Hudson is one 

 line of country seats — varying in extent from fifty to 500 or 600 acres. Instead of h.aving 

 the same general features of interest and beauty, nothing is more striking to the pictu- 

 resque tourist, than the highly varied character of these places. Every mileseems to pre- 

 sent new groupings of headland and foreground, some new combinations of wood, water, 

 and mountain — so that no one who has seen one or two places, can imagine with certainty 

 ■what will be the aspect and picturesque character of the next residence. The enchanting 

 beauty of the Hudson itself is varied and heightened too by its peculiar life and anima- 

 tion. Snowy sails, sometimes singly in calms, and sometimes floating along in the light 

 breezes like troops of white swans; swift steamers freighted with throngs of busy and curi- 

 ous people; huge clusters of freight barges, loaded down withtheproduceof whole counties; 

 and finally, stealing along under the high wooded banks, the river railway, whose trains fly 

 along between the commercial and political capitals of the state at the rate of 30 to 50 miles 

 an hour — all of these gives to these finest seats on the Hudson a completeness of interest 

 which the traveller looks in vain for anywhere else in America. 



Among the finest of these residences, Montgomery Place, Blithewood, EUerslie, Hyde 

 Park and others, have been already described, and some of them illustrated in various 

 other works of ours. Persons wishing to see the finest specimens of landscape gardening 

 in the country, naturally go to these places, to study them as the best examples of the art, 

 and there are few places, out of England, where the lover of embellished home scenery, can 

 find so much gratification and instruction. 



About the center of this upper terrace, lies Messina, the seat of the late John R. LiviNG- 

 STON, Esq., a sketch of which we present in our frontispiece this month. This house is 

 one of the noblest in its proportions on the whole river, and is worth an examination as a 

 specimen of a first class mansion in the country. It was built by Mr. Livixgston, after 

 his return from France, some years ago. He was so much pleased while there, with the 

 residence of Beaumarchais, near Paris, that he determined to model his own 

 home upon it. This accounts for the air of a French Chateau, which we discover in some 

 of its features. The design was, however, really drawn by an English architect, Brunel 

 the celebrated architect of the Thames tunnel — who came out to this country and erected 

 two or three residences for different members of the Livingston famil3^ The plan of the 

 interior is spacious and elegant — the rooms large and finely proportioned, uniting some 

 of the best features of both the English and French residences. 



Finely varied and extensive grounds surround the mansion at Messina. There is an 

 abundance of foliage and fine old trees, the scenery is beautiful and the neighborhood 

 most picturesque and interesting. Though not at present in the high condition of some 

 of the places we have just mentioned, (owing to the want of personal interest, consequent 

 upon the declining health of the late proprietor,) it could readily, in the hands of a per- 

 son of taste and fortune, be restored to its former high keeping. As it is but rarely one 

 of these first class residences are to be obtained, we believe we shall render a service to 

 some of our numerous readers who are annually settling in the country, by drawing their 

 attention to a site that has long been considered one of the best in the Union. 



