I had never heard of this park! Nor, was it like any other park in my memory. Yes, it had rolling hills of greenery, trees and flowers galore, streams, rivers and lakes, but inside this park was a small village—a locked village. Residents were free to come and go; it’s just that you or I could not come and go. We could not enter those locked gates unless we had an invitation——we had to FIT IN!!! (I personally would have had to peek through the gates.)
This was the home of a noteworthy and moneyed society. Hands down: you just had to be really, really rich to live here. It was called Tuxedo Park and following is its story and the story of a pretty little girl named Dorothy Tuckerman who was born into this exclusive community.
Tuxedo Park was in the Ramapo mountains about 40 miles from New York City and its representation of the Gilded Age when it opened in 1889. Originally only twenty-four future residents received a welcoming nod to live in this park where only the preferential lived!
Firstly, it’s time to talk about a group of the gilded glitterati of the late 1880’s and one of the “glitterers” who lived in New York City. This glitterati was the first man to be called a millionaire. Count Pierre Lorillard IV, the tobacco king!
And…from day one, Pierre started out in the haute monde. He grew up in a 68 room solid stone mansion of precise fabrication.
Count Pierre Lorrillard IV, inherited thousands of acres of undeveloped wilderness from relatives in the state of New York that had formerly been a winter utopia for local Indian tribes. Pierre wanted more and more of that wilderness——and Pierre was an
outstanding poker player.
EASY PEASY———,
DUCK SOUP!
Pierre went on to win a lot more of that acreage with those poker skills of his from some of those same relatives. He formed a private fishing and hunting community in his beautiful out-of-doors countryside surrounded by awe-inspiring large and small lakes. This region of timeless beauty was filled with blueberries surrounded by clumps of rhododendrons and dogwood.
Pierre Lorrilard imported 1800 workers from Italy in 1885 and built them a shanty town with a mess hall and bunk houses. Wasting no time, Lorrilard hired an architect, Bruce Price to design cottages covered with russet and gray shingles along with buildings that had the appearance of having been there for hundreds of years making those 5,ooo acres of wilderness worth more by tucking living spaces into the surrounding woodland while still keeping the original woodland with its magical heart. His workers built thirty miles of graded dirt roads and a water and sewage system——the first complete one in the world.
They built a main picturesque gatehouse manned by a police force and police station, twenty-two cottages, two blocks of stores, village stables, a post office, drugstore and market, all covered in moss and lichen. Then the Italian craftsmen built a four-story clubhouse matching the other old-time looking structures with one hundred guest bedrooms and one bathroom. There’s more!
A village theatre complete with stage footlights. He called his village and park, “Tuxedo Park.”
About Tuxedo Park: Part One
Tuxedo Park opened in the fall of 1886 with a gala Autumn Ball!
Seven hundred guests arrived on three special trains from New York City and were then transported to the clubhouse in green and yellow brightly painted open horse-drawn buses and tallyhos. Gamekeepers came out from the forest wearing green and gold uniforms while walking along the roads wearing Tyrolese hats decorated with large perky black cock feathers. The whole picturesque domain conveyed an atmosphere of celebration. Sightseers were allowed to roam the property on this one opening occasion and could be found checking out the one bathroom in the clubhouse. Some were transported in barges on the lakes with eight-men rowing crews wearing sailor suits. Continuing with the green and gold club colors were full liveried attendants who worked as footmen, waiters and hallmen to attend to clubhouse guests.
AND
One of the founder’s sons, a member of the Lorillard family had just returned from England where he was a guest of the Prince of Wales who wore a short hip-length formal jacket. No tailcoat. Lorillard had the tails removed from his tailcoat and wore a Satin Lapel Dinner Jacket to the First Autumn Ball. He named his tailless black jacket the tuxedo after his father’s,”Tuxedo Park.”
The “tuxedo” short jacket caught on and became fashionable for formal wear.
In reality, Tuxedo Park was a fortress. You could not enter without an invitation. There was an eight-foot fence around the property with a private police force on guard around the park grounds day and night and at each of the four gates to the dominion.
Children played freely. In winter, there was skating and skiing. servants dragged sleds and bobsleds to a toboggan slide a half mile long that was electrically lighted at night. Sleigh bells jingled as the children traveled between the distant great housesthey played on their ponies at horse shows, had dog shows and bicycle races, and swam in the lakes.
Prior to Tuxedo Park becoming a luxury village to the rich, this unparalleled Indian hunting and fishing sanctuary was to be no more. Lorillard had the lakes stocked with one hundred thousand bass and German carp. Unfortunately for the bass, nothing could stop the carp from eating the bass. The carp grew fatter and fatter!
Eventually the children managed to domesticate the deer whereupon they could be found adorned with pink ribbons.
Furthermore, when the beaters flushed the imported quail and pheasants toward shooting parties, the birds soared and surpassed the hunters flying to the blue skies of freedom or escaping to open fields where they thrived and enjoyed their future liberty.
One of the first cottages to be built was the Bruce Price Cottage designed by Bruce for his wife Josephine. He was also the architect for all the original buildings in Tuxedo Park.
BRUCE PRICE COTTAGE
TUXEDO PARK ARCHITECTURAL VISIONS OF BRUCE PRICE:
THE CHANLER COTTAGE
THE LORILLARD FAMILY COTTAGE
ORIGINAL TUXEDO PARK CLUBHOUSE
There was also a Tuxedo Park Club membership of four hundred who were invited to visit and stay in the clubhouse as guests for parties, sporting events, and celebrations and be a part of this American posh one-of-kind home town.
It was the first Country Club in the U.S. Guests came by trains owned by some club and resident park members.
Pierre invited two dozen patrician families to join his exclusively gated community of residents. Paul Tuckerman and his bride, Susan were among the original invitees to reside there. They were among this group of a private sort whose names did not appear in print at this time, but were extremely rich.
Susan Tuckerman’s flair for new fashion ventures caused raised eyebrows as she became a style-setter when she rode her horse wearing a divided-skirt sitting astride her horse, Susan continued to do so when she could be seen strolling around the lake wearing a tweed skirt that cleared the ground showing her ankles and yet, Susan was still considered to be a perfect lady.
Three years after the bride and groom moved to their new home, their first child was born. Her name was Dorothy and one day in the future, Dorothy would turn heads with her own brand of style-setting. One of her childhood friends was her cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. The Tuckerman’s erected five residences in Tuxedo Park throughout the years, including a red brick mansion where they lived with their two children—Dorothy and her brother, Roger.
Surrounded by woodland, Dorothy’s home was impeccably decorated and treasures were tastefully displayed. There was a desk owned by a Tuckerman ancestor, Oliver Wolcott, signer of the Declaration of Independence, wine coolers given to his son by George Washington and imported Chinese screens, silks, furniture and carvings brought from China and packed in green tea.
THE CHILDHOOD HOME OF DOROTHY AND ROGER TUCKERMAN
Although the children of the village roamed freely throughout the property, they were not allowed to roam into the Tuxedo Park Clubhouse, but it did allow the children to enter its prestigious interiors on Sunday afternoon where the clubhouse served hot cider and doughnuts. Of course, wearing their best they were also under the supervision of their nannies and governesses.
DOROTHY DRESSED FOR CIDER AND DOUGHNUTS
Exclusions existed even among the richest of the rich who might wish to live in Tuxedo Park. Actually all races and creeds were excluded unless you were of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant breed. Mark Twin who rented a cottage in Tuxedo Park said,”Good breeding conceals how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of others.”
You could say, this was exemplified at Tuxedo park!
MARK TWAIN OUTSIDE HIS COTTAGE
And the pretty little girl named Dorothy grew up under the tutelage of tutors and her governess Mademoiselle with a lot of freedom and not a lot of formal education. A two year stint at a fashionable Manhatten all-girls school was an unhappy experience and she was allowed to return home to study with tutors and Mademoiselle. Her independence and individuality were her major strengths and yearly trips to Europe compiled her excellent French and knowledge of art, light and color, antiques, fashion and jewelry.
But first, she had to experience the frustrations of being an exceedingly tall young teenage girl…
Part Two, Coming soon.
SHE WAS INVINCIBLE!
Sy’s Salient Points:
This extraordinary biodiverse village and architectural wonderland with its beautiful landscapes made this historic village unique.
The predominant figures in Tuxedo Park concentrated on inclusivity and virtually no flexibility. In 1873 Mark Twain co-authored a book titled “The Gilded Age,” a satire of the leading figure of the day. The label stuck for the period from roughly the 1870s to the early 1900s, an era characterized by industrialization, wealth, and political corruption.
Research: Lecture series——Sheila Yates, author——Carleton Varney, Britannica, Wikipedia
Happy Halloween Darling Blaire!