Old Westbury Gardens

Day 4 (Part 2) - Monday - September 12

EC/NE Camping Adventure 2022

The second part of our adventure day on Long Island included checking out some of the Gold Coast Mansions on the Long Island Sound shore.

Unfortunately, most were closed on a Monday. ☹️ But, we did drive by several and tried our best to get on property. 🤣 We did make it on to the Old Westbury Gardens property for a look-around!

Old Westbury Gardens is the former estate of businessman John Shaffer Phipps (1874–1958), an heir to the Phipps family fortune (partner of Andrew Carnegie in steel). The property was converted into a museum home in 1959. It is open for tours from April through October.

Work on the estate began in 1903, when John Shaffer Phipps promised his fiancée, Margarita Grace (a daughter of businessman Michael P. Grace), that he would build her a home in the United States that resembled her family's British residence at Battle Abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The house was ready in 1906 for Phipps, his wife and their young children.

Westbury House, the Carolean Revival (Charles II) mansion designed by British designer George A. Crawley with assistance from American architect Grosvenor Atterbury,contains 23 rooms. The grounds cover 160 acres.

There are several sculptures by Seward Johnson that are currently on display throughout the property. He specialized in bronze statues that are painted to look lifelike. They have such great coloring and expressions!

OH!!! And does anyone recognize the front of this home?? Think Hitchcock. Think Carey Grant. Think…”mother, they poured a whole bottle of bourbon in me! No, they didn’t give me a chaser.”

If you guessed North By Northwest and that this home is where Cary Grant’s character, Roger Thornhill, was taken and treated to a lot of bourbon, you’re right?! 🤣 They filmed that segment of the movie at this estate! 🥰❤️

The trip back from Long Island to Bridgeport on the ferry was beautiful as well. 🥰

K