THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



the seats of Horace Waldo and Richard Schieffehn at West 90th 

 and 91st Streets, the Weyman place at West 93rd Street, the Val- 

 entine Mott place at West 96th Street, the Humphrey Jones place 

 at West loist Street,Whitlock at West 120th Street, Buckley at 

 West 1 1 2th Street and the Audubon Estate at West 156th Street, 

 all of these places bordering the Hudson. The "Grange," built by 

 Alexander Hamilton about 1800, stood further back from the 

 river, about half way between the Hudson and the Harlem near 

 140th Street. Hamilton planted a grove of thirteen Gum trees 

 about a year before his death, supposed to represent the thirteen 

 original states of the Union. These remained until a late day. 

 As the city grew the mansion became crowded out, and was finally 

 removed a short distance to its present location on the east side 

 of Convent Avenue. 



The East River was also lined with attractive country seats in 

 the early part of the 19th Century, most of them above 59th 

 Street. A number of the old houses, sadly dilapidated, remained 

 between 80th and 96th Streets up to about 1905, but within the 

 past generation all have gone but two, the Gracie House at 89th 

 Street now on the grounds of Carl Shurz Park and the Prime 

 House on the grounds of St, Joseph's Orphan Asylum at 90th 

 Street. The Gracie House was one of the most noted. The 

 original dwelling was remodelled by Archibald Gracie in 1813, 

 and many distinguished people were entertained there. Other 

 important estates of the period in this locality were those of the 

 Rhinelanders, Astors, Crugers, Schermerhorns, Jones, etc. 



To enter into a description of the old country places of New 

 York State in general is beyond our present province. Yet there 

 are samples of the latter remaining, where there are practically 

 none on Manhattan Island, so a brief description may be 

 proper. Beginning with the early settlement of New York, one 

 finds much said about the manorial estates. These estates were 

 originally granted to those individuals who would guarantee to 

 settle a colony on them. Very few were successful, in fact, only 

 one was really so, and that was the Van Rensselaer Estate, which 

 comprised most of what is now Albany and Rensselaer Counties 

 in upper New York. Further to the south was Livingston Manor 

 which occupied the greater part of what is now Columbia County, 



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