 History of the Gold
Coast of Long Island, NY
Gold Coast Long Island's mansions were modeled after the English manor
house. Here America's powerful financial and industrial tycoons built about
a thousand estates in which they indulged in every fancy. They were indeed
pleasure palaces and playgrounds. These sprawling mansions had between
50 and 100 rooms and hundreds of acres, sometimes as much as 1000 acres,
of land.
"These estates included such niceties as formal gardens and
orchards, bridle paths and hunting fields, golf courses and grazing pastures,
gambling casinos and theatres, marinas and stables, servant's cottages
and guest houses, and both indoor and outdoor tennis courts and swimming
pools. Architectural styles ran the gamut: English Tudor, French Chateau,
Georgian, Gothic, Norman, Roman, Mediterranean, Spanish, or any combination
thereof. European castles were bought, dismantled, shipped across the
Atlantic stone by stone, and reconstructed in new world settings. One gentleman
even purchased the cobblestones from a Parisian street to be used as
the courtyard of his estate."
 
In time the upkeep of these mansions became impossible and
a number of them were destroyed. Only about 200 of these mansions have
now survived. Some are private homes without the extensive acreage; others
are state and county owned estates, educational and religious institutions,
museums and country clubs.
Nostalgically, as we now look back a hundred years into Nassau County's
history, we realize that the splendid treasures of the North Shore of Long
Island included not just the Who's Who of high society, such as the Vanderbilts,
Astors and Guggenheims, but also eminent poets such as Walt Whitman, William
Cullen Bryant, the first published African American poet, Jupiter Hammon,
and more. These estates also provided elegant and scenic settings for several
noteworthy movies, such as Love story, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and
North by Northwest.
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