The History of Marist’s Favorite Picnic Spot, the Vanderbilt Mansion
On the first warm day of the spring semester, the Marist Green can be found filled with students—playing catch, doing homework and lounging in the sun. It’s what every tour guide brags about when showing prospective students and their families the large expanse of grass in front of the river. But as the days get even warmer, a spot just north of the campus is often filled with its own handful of Marist students.
The Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park is a fan favorite—its view of the river and expansive grounds offering a perfect backdrop for photos and an ideal setting for picnics. In a survey of 100 Marist students, 75% said they had been to the mansion before, and the majority went to either picnic on the grounds or simply walk around and enjoy the scenery. Most noted that the beautiful views and gardens make it the ideal place to relax and get some fresh air off campus.
But while most students know where and what the mansion is, its history is lesser-known.
Jana Brzovski, in her senior year at Marist, noted that she hasn’t been able to visit the Vanderbilt property as much as she would like. But each time she does, she finds it “peaceful and powerful”—owing primarily to its rich history. “The historic part that really fascinates me is the level of wealth the Vanderbilts achieved to allow them to have that large of a property. I feel like the Vanderbilt name is often associated with American innovation and pioneering, which I find so powerful,” Brzovski said.
A vintage postcard of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Source: The Marist Archives
Bought in 1895 by millionaires Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt—an American capitalist and socialite, respectively—the Vanderbilt Mansion was only one of the collection of homes owned by the couple. Even today, it remains a symbol of Gilded Age wealth and privilege (after all, it was the couple’s smallest vacation home). The property originally spanned over 600 acres, and the Vanderbilt’s renovated and constructed new secondary residences, a coach house, gate house, and many gardens after purchasing it themselves. They renovated the original home on the property, the Langdon House, into what it is today.
As expected for one of the richest families in America, the mansion’s interior was lavish and opulent, meant for entertaining and impressing guests—and has been preserved today for visitors to enjoy on tours (which, unfortunately, are currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
When Laura Meschini, also a senior at Marist, toured the mansion, she experienced this grandeur firsthand. “I first visited the Vanderbilt Mansion my freshman year during parents weekend. We toured the mansion and walked the gardens,” she said. “It reminded me of Europe.”
Many of the furniture and architectural pieces were brought to the mansion from Europe, including marble, velvets, French tapestries and antiques. Frederick Vanderbilt had a love of nature—which explains the many gardens on the property. He modeled the gardens after their travels around Europe, adopting the more formal European style.
It’s easy to imagine the mansion in its heyday—full of rich guests, extravagant parties, and more. So next time you take a stroll through the gardens, stop for a picnic, or take a tour of the mansion itself, try to envision what it was like in the early 1900s. “It takes you back in time to the Gilded Age—an era I’ve never known, but I can observe it in the rooms Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt and their guests lived in and imagine what their life was like,” said Meschini. “If only trees could talk, I would love to know about the parties thrown here!”