In this blog post I highlight five of the Vanderbilt family homes that I have covered in the past. As I’m sure you know, members of the Vanderbilt family were master builders of massive homes - some were only used a few weeks or months of the year.

The history of the Bronx Botanical Gardens does not begin in the Bronx; it actually dates back to 1801 when Columbia University Professor David Hosack established one of America’s first botanical gardens, the Elgin Botanic Garden, on land that today is occupied by Rockefeller Center.

Located on Long Island’s North Fork, Cutchogue is known for its scenic rural landscapes, vineyards, and historic charm. The Village Green itself is a peaceful, picturesque park surrounded by beautiful old buildings and homes.

Rosemary’s Farm or sometimes called the Conklin Estate was a Long Island Gold Coast estate on the hills overlooking Cold Spring Harbor. The estate was owned by Ronald Conklin, who operated realty firms, and his wife who was an opera singer and had her own private outdoor amphitheater.

Charles Green, born 1807 in Shropshire, England, migrated to Savannah in 1833 at the age of 26 and secured a job as a clerk on Factor’s Walk in the cotton trade.

The Morgan Library & Museum is a treasure trove of cultural and literary history, celebrating the extensive collection amassed by millionaire financier J. Pierpont Morgan.

Naumkeag is the former Berkshire estate of New York City lawyer and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Hodges Choate, and his wife Caroline, located in Stockbridge, Massachusettes. The Choate’s, who were part of the newly-rich, traveled in well-to-do social circles. They decided to build a 44-room shingle-style “cottage” with brick and stone details, designed by the architect of the day, Stanford White.

Robert Lincoln, the only child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, retained the architecture firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge to built his summer home on 392 acres in Manchester, Vermont. Lincoln had served as Secretary of War and Minister to the Court of St. James, and made his fortune as a lawyer before becoming President of the Pullman Company. Robert Lincoln and his wife, Mary Harlan Lincoln, lived at Hildene in high style.

Olana was the eclectic home of Frederic Edwin Church and his wife Isabel. Frederic was one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The mansion was designed by Mr. Church in conjunction with architect Calvert Vaux and built between 1870 and 1872. A studio wing was added in 1889.

Blithewold is a 33-acre seaside garden estate that once the Bristol, Rhode Island summer home of Augustus and Bessie Van Wickle.

Charles Deering was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the son of William Deering, founder of Deering Harvester McCormick-International Harvester Company

The Edison and Ford properties are both on the National Register of Historic Sites and consist of 20 acres of historical buildings and gardens including the 1928 Edison Botanical Research Laboratory.

Crane created this lavish summer retreat for his wife, Florence Higinbotham Crane and three children, Cornelius and Florence. The Crane Estate would come to exemplify the American Country Place Era, which emphasized the integration of indoor and outdoor spaces.

Glencairn was originally built as the home of multi-millionaire businessman Raymond and Mildred Glenn Pitcairn and their nine children.

iMajor and Mrs. James H. Dooley transformed rough fields and pastures into a showplace many American millionaires were creating during the Gilded Age.

Thomas Edison is best known for the incandescent lamp and phonograph, but Edison’s greatest invention was a new way to invent: the industrial research and development laboratory.

Henry Plant hired New York architect J. A. Wood to design the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel in the style of a Moorish palace.

The Jekyll Island Club membership was like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the the late 19th and early 20th centuries and represented 1/6th of the world’s wealth at the time including Rockefeller’s, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Morgans, Gould and more.

The mansion that houses the Nassau Country Museum of Art, in Roslyn Harbor, was originally built by Lloyd Stephens Bryce utilizing the Neo-Georgian designs of architect Ogden Codman.

James Deering, socialite and antiquities collector built an elaborate Florida villa and estate named Vizcaya on Biscayne Bay in Miami.