“One of the greatest advantages of living here on this beautiful river is the pleasant neighbors who are in good accord.”— Julian Niemcewicz, after a visit to Clermont in 1798The families that lived on the big estates in an area stretching forty miles along the Hudson River were called locally “the river families.” The area encompasses parts of Dutchess and Columbia counties on the east bank of the river, and Ulster county on the west. These families often were descendants of the earliest colonial settlers—Beekmans (Dutchmen) and Livingstons (Englishmen) who received patents, or land grants, from the British Crown between 1685 and 1781. The earliest patent holders lived abroad or in New York City and were absentee landlords in a feudal system of men and women who rented tracts, and cleared and cultivated the land. By the end of the nineteenth century, the amount of farmland along the Hudson River was steadily decreasing as the wealthy acquired large tracts of land and built grand private estates. Rapid economic and population growth resulted from the industrial expansion that followed the end of the Civil War. Factories, railroads, and coal mining flourished, and an extensive new transportation network enabled the affordable movement of goods and improved communication. With less agricultural opportunities in rural areas such as Hyde Park, workers moved to cities as urban conditions improved, and laborers found work in factories. As a result, population growth and development were slow in places like Hyde Park, making it a desirable location for the pursuit of genteel country life. Bellefield was nestled among several estates on the east side of the Hudson River—Fern Tor, Rosedale, Edgewood, Springwood, Crumwold Farms, and Hyde Park. Typically, these estates included houses that sat at the edge of a bluff overlooking the Hudson and distant mountain ranges. These families also maintained homes in New York City as well as seasonal homes in the Adirondack Mountains and the summer colonies at Bar Harbor, Newport, and Long Island. The river families participated in recreational boating, ice boat competitions, tennis, golf, and carriage rides along the network of wooded roads connecting the estate farms. Their children played together and were educated at the same boarding schools. Their lives were dictated by the seasons, congregating together in New York City for the winter, their country houses in Spring and Fall, and their seaside cottages in the summer. The Hudson River gentry lived in great style among about fifty well-to-do families devoted to what Sara Delano Roosevelt called “living life as it should be.” |
Last updated: February 15, 2023