How to "Ruin" a Good Day

The New York Tri-State area is a treasure trove of ruined castles, hotels, mansions and other structures, and we love hunting them down. Look for our favorites over the next few days, starting with the Overlook Mountain House just outside of Woodstock, NY.
(thanks, Rob Yasinac!).
This was once the king of mountaintop hotels in the Catskills, the highest in fact, at 2,920 feet. Nearby is the 60 foot Overlook Mountain Fire Tower , one of the last five surviving towers in the region and offering supreme panoramic views of the area. It's a real adventure on a windy day, and watch out for up to 6 foot timber rattlesnakes on the ground. Click here for directions to the Mountain House and the Fire Tower.

Plum Times with the Vanderbilts and Clintons

From our base at the historic Plumbush Inn in Cold Spring, NY--and with a well-deserved hand to the staff and kitchen at Cathryn's Tuscan Grill , also in Cold Spring, we took Routes 9D and 9 upriver to the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site in Hyde Park. A short distance from FDR's home, this 54-room "cottage," completed in 1898, was one of 42 in the Vanderbilt family, used by Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt for spring and fall getaways (check out Louise's Marie Antoinette-inspired room). Louise, unable to unload the property in 1940, took FDR's advice and turned it over as a historic site. Well done Louise! To finish the weekend off, we chased winding country lanes to Clinton Vineyards in Clinton Corners, NY, member of the Dutchess (NY) County wine trail, favorite of Hillary Clinton and producer of fine Estate-bottled whites, dessert wines and champagnes since 1977.

Gilded Age Ghosts on the Hudson

OK, so we've missed blogging for a few days. No excuses, just rubbing shoulders with some Gilded Age ghosts up the Hudson River. First stop, the ruins of Bannerman Castle on Pollepel Island, centered in the Hudson between Storm King and Breakneck Mountains and the villages of Cold Spring and Beacon. Bannerman, born in Scotland, was a Brooklyn businessman who, needing storage for the arms and munitions he gathered from the Civil and Spanish-American Wars and elsewhere--and with no formal architectural training--built himself a nifty island arsenal in the late 1800s. Take a guided tour from Hudson River Adventures -- there's history lessons galore, and please support the Bannerman Castle Trust's ongoing mission to restore the arsenal and Bannerman's home on the island.

Life's A Beach!

Nothing heralds in summer more than that iconic first trip to the beach. With the unseasonable heat blast, Memorial Day weekend broke the seal for us and our 5 beachcombers. You'd never guess from the picture that we are literally 25 minutes from our home in Brooklyn! With miles upon miles of shoreline to choose from, none serve that quick beach fix better than the Rockaways, Breezy Point being our fave there...

Venturing south into New Jersey, we reap the rewards of the coastline there at Sandy Hook . The adventures unfold with miles of gorgeous wide open beaches, hiking trails, old army forts (that you can explore) and America's oldest lighthouse.

The Hudson River even serves as a "beach-front" option, when we venture an hour or so north to Little Stony Point just beyond the village of Cold Spring . A summer outing turned into a Lord of the Flies "castaway" afternoon as we trudged along railroad tracks and overgrown hiking trails, encountering a dark cave in the side of a modest mountain - all the while hearing the hum of speed boats on the Hudson River.

Raising kids in the city has its challenges, but with such incredible geography within reach - the balance is the sustenance - have car will travel!

Connecticut Connections I

It may be our third smallest state, but Connecticut has plenty to offer. Here's a quick tribute to some favorite stops on our recent Connecticut River Valley weekend. On the outskirts of the village of Chester , we loved the setting of the Sage American Bar & Grill (pictured). Housed in a former circa-1860 brush factory, the restaurant serves up firelight warmth and rustic charm along with pricey-but-worth-it cuisine, especially for meat lovers. Chester is also home to Simon's Marketplace (860.526.8984), perfect for a light lunch overlooking the stream that runs behind and underneath or for gourmet picnic food. And we were graciously accomodated for a lunch of escargot and white wine at the Gelston House 1853 Inn in East Haddam, CT (pictured below). Companion to the adjacent Goodspeed Opera House , this hotel--its 6 rooms currently occupied by its new owners--is a great stop for a meal on the veranda or in the dining room.

Buggin' Out

Whaddya mean, hand over the keys? Sad to say goodbye, Triple White , but we sure loved the ride, and you will too. This is a total lifestyle car, perfect for weekend getaways via back roads and parkways. Forget about the sonic boom when you hit the big city, too--it was Gotham in 3D, cruising down the West Side of Manhattan, showing off the goods in Brooklyn and hitting the beach in Coney Island.
Favorite stretches--the Connecticut coastline from Old Saybrook to Guilford, the Merritt Parkway from New Haven, CT to NYC, the Palisades Parkway between the George Washington and Tappan Zee bridges, and the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, doing our Annie Hall cruise under that magnificent Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Driving the runways at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field--NY's first municipal airport, from 1931, and temporary home of another icon, the Concorde--was also a blast. Next up from VW, coming soon--the EOS convertible--and we'll be checking out other cool autos, too.

To the Manor Reborn!

On the subject of mansions, the 196-room Glen Cove Mansion Hotel & Conference Center --built in 1910 as the country residence of Standard Oil executive John Pratt and his wife Ruth (her ghost now in residence)--is now one of Long Island's premier social and event destinations. The Long Island Film Festival was on while we there. Humphrey Bogart's son was attending, too, echoing his father, star of the original Sabrina (1954), which was filmed at this palatial 55-acre estate. Managed by premium brand Benchmark Hospitality , this Georgian country house and all its leisure amenities is the place to get your Gatsby on--our thanks to Benchmark's Ken Ellens and Glen Cove's Keith Battaglia for always delivering the royal experience!

The Lost Treasures of Long Island's Gold Coast

Attended a great wine dinner last night at the Glen Cove Mansion Hotel & Conference Center in Long Island, NY, featuring a rapturous presentation from author Monica Randall on the fabled Gatsby-era mansions and estates of Long Island's North Shore. After the crash of '29, most were abandoned and left to decay before being unceremoniously bulldozed in the 1960s. One such casualty, featured here, was Beacon Towers, a surreal Norman fantasy built by the Vanderbilts and thought to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for Jay Gatsby's fictional mansion.

Yet, a young Monica and her sister were determined to preserve what they could, and with camera and notebook in hand, they climbed crumbling walls and slid down coal chutes to create a spellbinding record of America's aristocratic past, complete with murder and the occult. One mansion was paved with tombstones taken from the graves of small children in Europe; another, the scene of a shotgun killing in the 50s, had a driveway cobbled with stones from the site of Mary Queen of Scots' beheading.

They also salvaged a remarkable collection of gowns and other finery left abandoned in steamer trunks. The elegant and charming Monica played a flapper in the 1974 film version of the Great Gatsby, lived in F.W. Woolworth's haunted Winfield Hall, still scouts locations for movies, and is still a dedicated explorer and adventurer. In fact, she's off in search of Catskills' ruins today--a favorite haunt of ours, to be featured in later entries.