Category Archives: local history

Rockland mansion sold for record-breaking $26 million

Niederhurst in the Palisades enclave of Snedens Landing has been sold for $26.1 million. Photo by Josh McHugh A historic Victorian Gothic mansion in the exclusive Palisades neighborhood of Snedens Landing has been sold for $26.1 million, the highest price ever for a single-family home in Rockland County, according to Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty. The 13-acre Niederhurst estate onContinue reading “Rockland mansion sold for record-breaking $26 million”

Tour Rockefeller’s greenhouse, now a major cultural arts destination

John D. Rockefeller’s wealth and holdings are almost unimaginable, stretching for hundreds of acres and dozens of homes throughout Westchester. Take, for instance, his former greenhouse where he grew ornamental oranges, which has undergone quite a transformation, thanks to money from the family. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/mount-pleasant/2024/02/21/david-rockefeller-creative-arts-center-mount-pleasant-ny-reimagines-grandfathers-orangerie/72522226007

‘She didn’t kill him. She wasn’t guilty’

So many unanswered questions in the wake of Helen Ray Fowler’s execution at Sing Sing. A curious local historian seeks to answer them in a new play being staged just miles from where she died in the prison’s infamous electric chair. Here’s the backstory plus a preview of the two-act drama …

Talk Show Queen Relinquishes Her Castle

For years this tart-tongued tabloid talk-show host ruled the airwaves. But alas, her castle has become too much of a burden. This kingdom awaits a new royal family, for a mere $6.5 million. https://www.lohud.com/story/money/real-estate/living-here/2023/11/29/sally-jessy-raphael-mansion-hudson-valley-ny-real-estate-on-the-market/71739052007/

Farming family returns to its roots, 100 years later

What was this tiny suburban county like before the Tappan Zee Bridge? Seen through the eyes of this farming family, it was a simpler and satisfying life. The family recently reunited to reprise a photograph taken a century earlier. Here’s what happened: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/rockland-history/2023/07/25/katt-family-farm-this-fieldstone-farmhouse-is-home-to-a-reunion/70438641007/

$5 million Moon River home overlooks the Hudson in celeb enclave

Meet the fiercely independent woman who turned secluded Snedens Landing into a celebrity enclave for everyone from Baryshnikov to Scarlett Johansson.

Mysterious creations saved from dumpsters and disasters

Her work was nearly lost to history, then to the ravages of Hurricane Irene in 2011

Paging Cinderella. You left your slipper in the castle …

A century-old castle high above the Hudson that was once home to Shirley Jones, Jack Cassidy, David Cassidy and a cast of other notables is about to change hands.

RIP Brooks Arthur, 914 Sound Studios hitmaking wizard

Brooks Arthur, award-winning engineer and the founder of 914 Sound Studios. Photo by James J. Kriegsmann Jr.