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FROM THE BRYANT ROOM ARCHIVES
By Myrna Sloam ©January/February 2009
A View of the Mackay Estate, Part 19: Estate Roadways,
by Stewart Donaldson
The following article is part 19 of a continuing series taken from the memoirs of Stewart W. Donaldson (1907-1994) who grew up on the Clarence H. Mackay estate 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.
The [Mackay] estate was a network of roads, bridle paths and walking paths. The Front Drive was exactly one mile long from the gate house [on Harbor Hill Road] to the front door of the mansion…. The North Drive, which ran in a curving, rolling fashion, crossing the road to the tennis court and greenhouses, [ran] on up the hill over the small stone bridge…. As you approached the mansion the road forked off to the East Drive…. The East Drive started at Glen Cove Road and the dairy, and ran west up the hill past the cow barns, dairy, then the kennels, and on up to the intersection of the road to the stables and Chicken Farm Drive. This road [East Drive] ran under the little stone bridge down to the estate office and up to the rear door of the mansion. At the dairy it forked to the right and went cross over to the polo stables and finally met the road to the greenhouses. The Chicken Farm Drive ran from Harbor Hill Road up through the woods to the East Drive and then either way to the dairy or the main house. The East Drive continued past the road to the rear door of the mansion and went to the office, then past the coal pockets on to Northern Blvd.
There were bridle and walking paths all through the estate. They amounted to about 10 miles of roadways all told. Horses were not allowed on the walk paths because of the droppings. Mrs. Mackay [Katherine Duer Mackay, first wife of Clarence H. Mackay] was very stern about this rule. She almost fired my father [coachman and later chauffeur, William Donaldson], because she found horse manure on the walk paths, and he had a hell of a time to convince her that his horses had not done it.
Norway maples were planted all along the perimeter of the estate and along certain drives. There was [a] green slat fence, behind which was a privet hedge, from Northern Blvd. and the L.I.R.R., down Northern Blvd., Town Path to Glen Cove Road, south to Harbor Hill Road and then, west along Harbor Hill Road, to the gate house. It took four men all summer to keep this hedge trimmed, as well the hedges around the tennis courts and stables. …This trimming was all done with a pair of hand shears. The fence had to be painted about every four years and posts and boards replaced. The painters painted the fence and [Mike] Bostok and [Dominic] DiPaolo [handymen on the estate] replaced the posts and boards. The painters did a portion of the fence each year.
The walking paths were about three feet wide and the bridle paths were about six feet in width. [All of them] were just plain dirt paths, but kept in good, clean condition. They went all through the woods from the polo stables up and across the East Drive, on through the woods across Chicken Farm Drive, then to the Front Drive, across that and on down to the North Drive, then into the woods both east and west.
Just west of the North Drive Mr. Mackay had a mechanical deer track. The deer were run by electricity and as they went by he would shoot at them. If he hit them in a certain spot, they would fall over. He sat in a blind and shot into a hill as the deer came out of a tunnel. They went at a good rate of speed. In several places along the walking paths were rustic cabins where you could sit down and rest. In fact, they even served tea there, if Mrs. Mackay wished it. After she divorced Mr. Mackay, the cabins and other things went to hell…. [Katherine Duer and Clarence Mackay were married in 1898 and divorced in 1914.] Before the Mackays bought this property it was owned by Samuel and Stephen Tabor. [The initial purchase of the Harbor Hill property was made by John W. Mackay, father of Clarence Mackay, as a wedding gift. Stephen Tabor built an Observation Tower and had a picnic area here. He would lease the area to Mr. A.A. Reed, a local hotel proprietor, who would rent it out to local clubs, etc., for outings and picnics. He never charged Sunday schools or churches for its use. It was known for years for its wonderful view. [The Mackays closed public access to the tower and picnic grounds shortly after acquiring the property.]
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