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FROM THE BRYANT ROOM ARCHIVES
By Myrna Sloam ©September/October 2008
A View of the Mackay Estate, Part 17: Activities of Mr. and Mrs. Mackay,
by Stewart Donaldson
NOTE: The following article is part 17 of a continuing series taken from the memoirs of Stewart W. Donaldson (1907-1994) who grew up on the former Clarence H. Mackay estate, Harbor Hill, in what is now East Hills. These memoirs were written in the 1950s recalling the estate in the 1910s and 1920s. Stewart’s father, William, was a coachman/chauffeur on the estate and Stewart was born and raised there.
Mr. Mackay was a great sportsman. He liked every type of sport. He spent a great deal of time, first at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley and later when the Creek Club was formed, also in Locust Valley, he joined that. The Creek Club was very exclusive and expensive to belong to. He would go to the races at Belmont Park in Queens quite often. He always attended the championship Polo matches at the Meadowbrook Club in Westbury. In the early years Mr. Mackay would show his horses at the famous Madison Square Garden horse show, and he won many blue ribbons with these horses. They were trained by Jack Mackie, who was the head coachman and one of the best horsemen in America….
Mr. Ted Armstrong, an Englishman, was in charge of the [Mackay] kennels. [In the early years of the estate] they had a good number of hunting dogs and fox hounds. About 1920 Mr. Mackay closed the kennels and moved the dogs to [his property] in Jamestown, North Carolina. Mr. Armstrong would make all of the arrangements for Mr. Mackay to go to Europe or to North Carolina and had charge of Gardiners Island [Long Island] which Mr. Mackay had leased for 25 years…. Mr. Mackay would go to Jamestown in the fall, “turkey” shooting, for probably two weeks. Mr. Armstrong had to arrange to have three railroad cars brought out to a siding in Roslyn which Mr. Mackay and the servants, who went with him, would board. Then a train from Oyster Bay would pick up the cars and take them to Penn Station, there they would be transferred to a south bound train and taken to Jamestown, where the cars would remain until Mr. Mackay wished to return….. After Mr. Mackay died, Ted Armstrong bought the hunting lodge….
Gardiners Island was leased by Mr. Mackay and was stocked with ring neck pheasants and deer. There were three men housed on the island permanently to feed, raise and care for the birds, etc. Mr. Mackay had a 110 foot twin diesel yacht that ran from Sag Harbor or Greenport, to the island, whenever Mr. Mackay and his friends wished to go over. This was usually in November and December, for maybe six weeks of shooting. They went over on Thursdays and came back on Sunday. Mr. Scott was a New York State game warden stationed on the island. Captain Horton was in charge of the yacht [and] Henry Bowler (who was English) [was the] steward. There was also two deckhands, an engineer, and Charley Hanff, an apprentice boatman. They were hired the year round….
During several summers after the First World War, Mr. Mackay would go to Scotland, grouse hunting. As usual, Ted Armstrong would go over several weeks before ‘the boss” and make all of the necessary arrangements. They sailed over on the Cunard liner to Southampton, England. [They] spent a few days in London, then on to Scotland for several weeks of hunting, and then home. He might then rent a place in Southampton, Long Island for a month. So, you can see that he did not spend too much time at Roslyn. He was always on the go. He was a great lover of the opera and gave a good deal of money for its upkeep.
Both Mr. C.H. Mackay and [his first wife] Katherine Mackay were very community conscious and were always doing something for Roslyn. Mrs. Mackay served on the Board of Education for a number of years and gave the Bryant Library a great number of books. She gave financial assistance and brought out professional talent from New York City to put on plays in the school. She really got the High School started in Roslyn [1904] and she [re]built the Episcopal Church [Trinity] in memory of her mother. This was a $50,000 donation to the folks of Roslyn.
Mr. Mackay was a Roman Catholic and a generous donor to this [St. Mary’s] church. He was a member of the Roslyn Rifle Club [and] took [an] active part in the Roslyn Neighborhood Association. He was active in the planning for the War Memorial Building and when it was dedicated [1920] he brought the United States Marine Band to Roslyn to play for the dedication ceremonies. He also had them play a concert with several opera singers from the [New York City] Metropolitan Opera Company on the lawn in front of the mansion at Harbor Hill, charging $5.00 admission to help defray the expenses for [erecting] the War Memorial Building. [Located on East Broadway, it became the home of the Bryant Library in 1952.]
These large estates did help the town folks in those days. I remember nearly all the harness needs were bought at J.T. Fearns harness shop, in the little flat iron building (the Remsen building) on School Street [Old Northern Blvd.], opposite the [Hewlett Remsen] garage. Groceries were bought at J.T. Hicks store on Willow Avenue [Old Northern Blvd.]. Fruits and vegetables [were bought] at Masini’s on Willow Avenue and sometimes fish [were bought] at Somerindykes, also on Willow Avenue. The daily and Sunday papers were bought from William Pickering’s store on East Broadway. Gasoline, I believe, was bought directly from Mobil Oil.
There were feed, hay, and cattle needs, that were bought at Jere Hennessey’s at the station and the hacks were hired from O’Leary’s and Hamilton’s. Then of course, there were the servants, who lived year round in the villages adjoining [the estate.] They bought continually from the local merchants. So, these estates had a great bearing on the economy of the local merchants and fellow neighbors.
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