Photo by cmmb17 on flickr. Formerly the country place of the Newbold-Morgan family and neighbor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bellefield embodies the distinctive characteristics of Colonial Revival country-house architecture in the Hudson Valley dating to a renovation and expansion designed by McKim, Mead & White from 1909-1911. The house reflects changes in architectural styles and building methods dating back to its initial construction in 1795. In the eighteenth century, New Yorkers acquired large parcels of property along the Hudson, prized for the rich agricultural soils and ready access to the river. Early land owners and New York City merchants accumulated great wealth selling or leasing the land to families who established modest farms. By the time of the Civil War, wealthy residents of New York City were converting the old riverfront farms to elegant seasonal residences. Drawn by the natural beauty of the region, they transformed these working farms into country estates that featured grand houses, pleasure grounds, formal gardens, and model farms. 
Early HistoryBellefield is located on a portion of the Great Nine Partners patent, granted in 1697 by Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of the Colony of New York. To guaranteed each partner equal access to the Hudson for commercial transportation, the river frontage was divided into nine equal-sized lots. These "water lots" were numbered consecutively from one to nine, running south to north, and measured 660 yards wide along the Hudson. 
The River FamiliesKnown locally as the River Families, the owners of the Hudson River estates typically used their homes in spring and fall, favoring other seaside settings, such as Newport and Bar Harbor during the summer. While here, they engaged in a range of leisurely pursuits including carriage drives, horseback riding, lawn tennis, swimming and boating. River society was composed of discreet and inconspicuous families like the Astors, Livingstons and Roosevelts whose genteel way of life was distinguished from the “new money” opulence of the wealthy industrialist neighbors that arrived during the Gilded Age. 
The NewboldsNew York State Senator Thomas Newbold and his wife Sarah Coolidge purchased Bellefield in 1885. Newbold was a man of local prominence serving as State Senator for the Hyde Park district and later as head of the State Health Department. Sarah was from a cultivated Boston family and a direct descendant of President Thomas Jefferson. Their children, Mary, Jefferson and Julia, were playmates of Franklin Roosevelt, riding bicycles and horses freely among the private roads connecting the river estates. More History to Come Soon 
Bellefield MansionConstructed in 1795, the house was perceived locally to have historic significance as one of the oldest colonial houses along the Hudson River. Bellefield was remodeled between 1909 and 1911 by prominent architects McKim, Mead & White, enlarging the house from 16 to 29 rooms. The new facade in the restrained, neoclassical style was typical of country place architecture at the turn of the century. 
Beatrix FarrandBeatrix Farrand created gardens for many influential individuals, public institutions and universities and was selected a founding member—the only woman—of the Association of American Landscape Architects in 1899. Few of her gardens remain, but notable exceptions include the Rockefeller’s Eyrie Garden, large portions of the Princeton and Yale campuses, and Dumbarton Oaks, indisputably one of the great gardens of the world. The garden at Bellefield is thought to be her earliest extant residential design. 
The Walled GardenIn 1911 Thomas Newbold contacted landscape gardener Beatrix Jones Farrand to design a garden adjacent to his newly remodeled home. The garden stretched south from a new terrace, surrounded by a fieldstone wall and hemlock hedge. One of her earliest commissions, the garden was inspired by the designs of Charles Sprague Sargent, William Robinson, and Gertrude Jekyll. 
The Wild GardenThe idea of the wild garden originated in the nineteenth century as a challenge to the prevailing aesthetic of the day characterized by rigid geometric designs of tender plants. In contrast, the wild garden is characterized by a naturalistic style achieved with a mix of native and exotic hardy plants layed out to mimic the wild landscape. Beatrix Farrand's design for the gardens at Bellefield included a wild garden surrounding the walled garden. The National Park Service and the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association will begin rehabilitation of this lost feature in 2023. |
Last updated: May 31, 2023