Some Long Island Country Estates 
By RICHARD SCHERMERHORN, Jr. 
PART I 
T here is a certain section of Long Island, 
which by the general public is very seldom 
visited, but which is nevertheless one of the 
most beautiful garden spots in the country. This is 
in the vicinity of Roslyn, Westbury and the Wheatley 
Hills, located geographically in the Northwestern 
part of the Island. Here vast estates have been pur¬ 
chased and developed by people of wealth, chiefly 
New Yorkers, who have sought this neighborhood on 
account of its comparative proximity to the city and 
because for landscape features it is excelled by no 
other section of 
the' n eighhor- 
in g country. 
Long Island 
in general is 
flat, but along 
the Northerly 
shore stretches 
a tall range of 
hills, particu¬ 
larly promi¬ 
nent and diver- 
sified in the 
Roslyn an d 
the Westbury 
neighborhood. 
To he sure 
little benefit is 
d e r i \' e d here 
from the water, 
but the beauty 
of the 1 and- 
s c a p e i s p r e - 
dominating and little wonder that such a site has been 
chosen for this exclusive settlement. Here we may 
find the estates of the Whitneys, Mackays, Mor¬ 
gans, Mortimers, Duryeas, Stows, Bryces, Pells, 
Whitehouses, Winthrops, Keenes, Burdens, a repre¬ 
sentative Manhattan community. 
Most of these estates have arisen during the past 
ten years, and it is hut lately, in fact, that a degree of 
development has been approached by which their 
beauty may be properly judged and their future attrac¬ 
tiveness gauged. Were the mansion itself the sole 
object to be considered, interest in these places might 
have diminished long before this, but where the land¬ 
scape is the primary function, time alone is necessary 
to give these estates the full beauty that has been 
sought for by owner and constructor together, and 
every year brings added interest, particularly for those 
who have been chiefly concerned in their development. 
while the visitor who views them ten years from now 
for the first time may even then be enjoying only their 
elemental stage. 
Prominent among the estates in this section are 
those of the Mackays, Whitneys, Duryeas, and Stows, 
views of which are shown in the accompanying illus¬ 
trations. These four estates, though respectively 
different in character, are typical of the whole. The 
Mackay estate is excelled in thorough development 
by none on Long Island, while there are few supe¬ 
rior than the Whitney estate in acreage and in gen¬ 
eral landscape 
beauty. The 
Duryea and 
Stow estates are 
considerably 
smaller but are 
splendid exam¬ 
ples of artistic 
development. 
The Mackay 
estate is exceed¬ 
ingly complete. 
Besides the res¬ 
idence are the 
following; sta¬ 
ble, lodge, 
farmhouse, and 
out - buildings, 
kennels, dairy, 
g y m n a s i u m , 
s u p e r i n t e n d- 
ent’s offices, 
conservatory, 
greenhouses, beside many minor buildings. The 
estate comprises somewhat over 500 acres, and is 
mostly wooded, the open farm land containing only 
about seventy-five acres. The mansion is located 
on the highest portion of the estate, known even 
before the Mackay’s occupancy as Harbor Hill. 
There is but one point of greater elevation than 
this on Long Island. The landscape treatment in 
the neighborhood of the house is formal. The main 
drive leading to the house proceeds in a direction 
rectangular to the axis of the latter, turning abruptly 
in a court somewhat, some 300 feet from the house, 
from which a more or less natural landscape is merged 
into the formal. 
A very attractive formal garden is on the west 
of the house and on the east a branch drive leads 
to other portions of the estate. The stable, which 
is also of imposing appearance, is located not far from 
i- ' ■ : ■ 
RESIDENCE OF MR. CLARENCE H. MACKAY 
82 
