Wyndclyffe

If you have never visited New York's Hudson Valley, it is well worth a trip. Chock full of rich and vibrant history, you can make a long weekend trip to traverse the Hudson from Sleepy Hollow to Olana and all in between.

Sadly, the house that started the mansion craze is in ruins. Wyndclyffe or sometimes spelled Wyndcliffe, in the storybook hamlet of Rhinecliff, NY, sits nearby Wilderstein on the Hudson, built by Edith Schermerhorn Jones, an Astor relation. She built Wyndclyffe and the rest of the Gilded Age Mansions of the Hudson River, such as the Vanderbilts and the Livingstons copy catted Wyndclyffe to not be outdone. Rich and majestic, looming with secrets of the past, the now large ruins of Wyndclyffe were to be restored by its supposed new owner in 2003.

The mansion, once boasting 80 acres of splendor on the Hudson, was reduced to an overgrown 2 acres, surrounded by mostly 1970's styled homes with neighbors who prefer that it be razed and erased. It was for sale for about $250K in 2002. What I never understood was the complete lack of interest in those with the means to save it; had no one any appreciation for the complex beauty that lied within its falling walls? Its sale prompted talk about its purchase so that it could be destroyed completely once and for all. Revolting.

For those interested in Wyndclyffe, the following links are of interest. Not much information is available on this most important relic of New York's Historic Hudson Valley.

NationalTrust.org
MVRphotography.com
Memory.loc.gov