358 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1906 



Each Side of the Garden Has Its Own Stone Pergola Overgrown with Vines 



Mrs. Shepard's house is 

 the climax and crown of the 

 whole estate. It stands on a 

 lofty eminence, overlooking a 

 great stretch of country hol- 

 lowed out below and beyond, 

 and the rock bound shore of 

 New Jersey in the furthest 

 distance. There are many su- 

 perb points of vantage within 

 the estate, many fine points of 

 view, many wonderful out- 

 looks, but none so fine nor so 

 sweeping as may be seen 

 from the echo portico or any 

 of the windows of the river 

 front. 



It is a house of the vastest 

 size. It is immaterial that it 

 contains sixty-five rooms, of 

 which twenty alone are for 

 the use of the help, and six- 

 teen bathrooms. That these 

 are impressive figures may be 

 granted without dispute; but 

 the more essential point is 



below that ridge of rock from one's portico 1 It is a spectacle that it is a mansion to which the word "grand" may be im- 



always present, always fine, always beautiful. Even this mediately applied. It is not only grand in size, but it is de- 

 much can be seen and appreciated from the train; how much signed and built in a masterful manner that few houses ap- 



more complete, how much more ravishing, must it be when proach. And it is grand in its simplicity, having no unneces- 



seen from above? 



If ever there was a site used for human habitation 



that justified its use it is the hills above the Hudson 



River. I will not say that the situation of Mrs. 



Shepard's house at Scarborough is the very finest 



on the river; but it is so supremely fine that one may 



want nothing grander, and many fortunate persons 



content themselves with less and consider themselves 



fortunate. 



The estate is a large one, having an area of more 



than five hundred acres. It is beautifully parked in 



the simplest manner. That is to say, the fine old 



trees have been left exactly where they have been 



growing — many of them — before the memorable 



voyage of Henry Hudson opened his giant river to 



commerce. There are immense stretches of rolling 



lawn that rise and fall like waves of green as they 



climb the hillsides or descend into gentle valleys. 



There is an immense spaciousness here, for the ex- 

 tent of the estate is very large, and there is ample 



room for broad ideas carried out in the broadest 



way. 



The scale of the whole property is immense. The 



driveways — three miles of them — are spacious and 



superbly made; the trees are the trees of the old 



forest, proudly erect with the dignity of many years 



of successful growth; the lawns fairly lose them- 

 selves in distant clumps of shrubbery or melt in for- 

 est borders at the remotest points; the various parts 



of the estate — the house stable, the farm stable, the 



conservatory, the gardener's cottage — are so widely 



distributed that one comes upon them unawares. 



And besides the great house there are several others, 



the charming "Villa," red bricked, a mansion that 



well conceals its near a hundred years of existence 



beneath a drab painted brick, all so far removed 



from each other and the other buildings as to have 



distinct individuality and to stand, in a sense, quite 



alone in their own immediate surroundings of trees. The Hanging Gardens of Scarborougl 



