Golf in the Gilded Age:
Robber Barons, Railroads, and Resort Hotels
5: Railroads and Resorts
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American golf had its birth in the Gilded Age (1870s-1890s),
and by the close of the 19th century the United States had more golf
courses than Britain. This start is inextricably intertwined with the
dominant Tycoons of the day, and this in turn entangles the foundation
of golf in America with the expansion of their railroads and their associated
Grand Hotels in exclusive resort locations.
From 1900 to the advent of WWII, golf in America added
sinew and muscle on this underlying frame to make the Resort golf experience
truly spectacular and widely accessible outside the echelons of elite
society. The enduring legacy has been that the popularization of golf
in America is indelibly stamped with the watermark of excellence set
by these fabulous early Resorts.
RAILROADS & RESORTS
 H.
Newport Rhode Island
Old Colony Railroad
1888 Map
Old Colony Steam Engine ca. 1910
In an age mercifully innocent of environmental impact
studies, suburban shopping plazas, and the universal motorcar the only
thinkable means of overland transit was via the Old Colony Railroad
which linked Boston with distant points in southeastern Massachusetts
and Rhode Island. This legendary carrier was one of the best managed
of all railroads and a veritable bonanza for Its stockholders.
For sixty-seven years it grew and prospered until 1893,
when the expanding New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad leased the
Old Colony for a period of ninety-nine years. Though notable improvements
and increased service were introduced by the New Haven management the
personalized service of the Old Colony was lost. The zenith of passenger
service to and from Newport was reached in 1913.
For many years the Newport Line was served by a handsome
express train known unofficially as "The Dandy Express". It's consist
included a Pullman parlor car to care for first class clientele who
insisted on privacy and comfort. "The Dandy" was a morning train from
Newport to Boston with a late-afternoon departure from the "Hub". The
travel time was under two hours.
Regularly scheduled passenger service reached an all-time
high during the summers of 1912 and 1913 when 24 trains a day arrived
and departed Newport between 5:55AM and 11:03PM. Added to this impressive
total were two scheduled freight trains a day, extra excursion specials
and frequent private charter used by summer colonists who owned "cottages"
in the environs of Bellevue Avenue and the Ocean Drive. Several yard
tracks were reserved for private cars. On occasion the eastbound Fall
River Line steamer would be hours late due to storm or fog conditions.
The railroad would make up a special extra to speed passengers to Boston.
As many cars as needed would be waiting at Newport's "Wharf Station"
with a pair of ten-wheelers hot and ready displaying white flags.
History
of the Old Colony Railroad
Newport, Rhode Island is located on Aquidneck Island.
The Old Colony & Newport Railway was chartered in 1863 as that islands
answer to a demand for a rail connection with the rest of the country.
1864 saw the first passenger train to Fall River, Massachusetts with
through service to Boston following in a few weeks. Improved service
came with a merger with the Old Colony Railroad. Railroad and subsidiary
steamship operations established Newport as "America's first resort".
During the 1890's the Old Colony merged with the New York, New Haven
& Hartford. By 1913, 24 passenger trains and two freights served Newport
daily. Steamships ran to New York. Many Boston to New York passengers
went rail to Newport and ship to New York. Highways caused a decline
in rail service by the late 1920's. Boston passenger service ceased
in 1938. Freight service has continued. Penn Central and CONRAIL have
followed in the New Haven's footsteps. The State of Rhode Island has
owned the trackage since 1978 and has made substantial track improvements.
Since 1979, the National Railroad Foundation has operated tourist passenger
service. The train leaves daily at 1:30 and the trip up the bay and
back takes a little over two hours. Newport Yard was once a transfer
point to steamships. There was a roundhouse, two turntables, and room
for over one hundred rail cars. Now it is a two track stub.
Old
Colony and Newport Railway
In 1893 the Old Colony RR was absorbed by the New York
New Haven and Providence RR, which then had complete monopoly over the
NYC to Boston traffic, including Connecticut and Rhode Island. This
system saw Newport society at its peak.
New
York, New Haven and Providence RR
Around the turn of the century, the New Haven Railroad
came under the control of J. P. Morgan, the notorious financier. Morgan
set out to build a complete New England transportation monopoly using
the New Haven Railroad as his cash cow and base of operations. On J.
P Morgan's orders, the New Haven bought up hundreds of railroads, steamship
lines, and trolley companies throughout New England.
By 1910, J. P. Morgan's monopoly building efforts, which
were in violation of various federal and state anti-trust laws, came
under direct criminal investigation. Additionally, Morgan had so over-extended
the company that it came very close to financial collapse. The war in
Europe was the only thing which kept the New Haven Railroad out of bankruptcy
at that time. During World War One, the New Haven was taken over by
the federal government and operated by the United States Railroad Administration
(USRA). The various 'war emergency' protections afforded the railroad
by the USRA and the great influx of military related business put the
New Haven back on its feet again.
New Haven
Railroad Historical and Technical Association - Brief History of the
NHRR
Electric Engine for NHRR, built 1906
Stema
& Electric Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad Digital Collection,
University of Connecticut
Old
Colony & Newport Railroad Engine 4764 leads a work train through
a Portsmouth, RI golf course in January 2006 while golfers prepare to
tee off in 60 degree weather.
Chateau-sur-Mer,
China Trade magnate William Shepard Wetmore home, redesigned in Second
Empire Style for his son Geroge by Richard Hunt Morris. Site of lavish
entertainments, Chateau -sur-Mer ushered in the grand social style of
the 1890s with the coming of the Vanderbilts.
The
Breakers, Vanderbilt "cottage"
The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages"
and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence
in turn of the century America. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York
Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial
growth of the nation during the late 19th century. The Commodore's grandson,
Cornelius Vanderbilt II, became Chairman and President of the New York
Central Railroad system in 1885, and purchased a wooden house called
The Breakers in Newport during that same year. In 1893, he commissioned
architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a villa to replaceÊthe
earlier wood-framed house which was destroyed by fire the previous year.
Hunt directed an international team of craftsmen and artisans to create
a 70 room Italian Renaissance- style palazzo inspired by the 16th century
palaces of Genoa and Turin. Allard and Sons of Paris assisted Hunt with
furnishings and fixtures, Austro-American sculptor Karl Bitter designed
relief sculpture, and Boston architect Ogden Codman decorated the family
quarters.
Marble
House, Vanderbilt "cottage"
Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for Mr. and
Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, a summer house, or "cottage", as Newporters
called them in remembrance of the modest houses of the early 19th century.
But Marble House was much more; it was a social and architectural landmark
that set the pace for Newport's subsequent transformation from a quiet
summer colony of wooden houses to the legendary resort of opulent stone
palaces. Mr. Vanderbilt was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt,
who established the family's fortune in steamships and the New York
Central Railroad. His older brother was Cornelius II, who built The
Breakers. Alva Vanderbilt was a leading hostess in Newport society,
and envisioned Marble House as her "temple to the arts" in America.
It was designed by the architect Richard Morris Hunt, inspired
by the Petit Trianon at Versailles. The cost of the house was reported
in contemporary press accounts to be $11 million, of which $7 million
was spent on 500,000 cubic feet of marble. Upon its completion, Mr.
Vanderbilt gave the house to his wife as a 39th birthday present. The
Vanderbilts had 3 children: Consuelo, who became the 9th Duchess of
Marlborough; William K., Jr., a prominent figure in pioneering the sport
of auto racing in America; and Harold, one of the finest yachtsmen of
his era who successfully defended the America's Cup three times. The
Vanderbilts divorced in 1895 and Alva married Oliver H.P. Belmont, moving
down the street to Belcourt. After his death, she reopened Marble House,
and had a Chinese Tea House built on the seaside cliffs, where she hosted
rallies for women's right to vote. She sold the house to Frederick H.
Prince in 1932. The Preservation Society acquired the house in 1963
from the Prince estate.Ê In 2006, Marble House was designated a National
Historic Landmark.
Rosecliff,
Comstock Silver heiress's mansion
Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs
in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the
Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. After
the house was completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5 million,
Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy
tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini. "Tessie",
as she was known to her friends, was born in Virginia City, Nevada.
Her father, James Graham Fair, was an Irish immigrant who made an enormous
fortune from Nevada's Comstock silver lode, one of the richest silver
finds in history. During a summer in Newport, Theresa met Hermann Oelrichs
playing tennis at the Newport Casino. They were married in 1890.
A year later, they purchased the property known as Rosecliff from the
estate of historian and diplomat George Bancroft. An amateur horticulturist,
it was Bancroft who developed the American Beauty Rose. The Oelrichs
later bought additional property along Bellevue Avenue and commissioned
Stanford White to replace the original house with the mansion that became
the setting for many of Newport's most lavish parties.
Isaac
Bell House, Cotton Broker's mansion
The Isaac Bell House is one of the best surviving examples
of shingle style architecture in the country. The house was designed
by the firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1883 for Isaac Bell,
a wealthy cotton broker and investor. After passing through a succession
of owners, the Isaac Bell House was purchased by the Preservation Society
in 1996, and is today designated a National Historic Landmark. The exterior
of the house has been extensively renovated and interior restoration
work is continuing. The house is presented for tour as a work in progress.
The Isaac Bell House was remarkably innovative when it appeared in 1883.
It is a combination of Old English and European architecture with colonial
American and exotic details, such as a Japanese-inspired open floor
plan and bamboo-style porch columns.
The
NY Cotton Exchange Building 1885
Degas' New Orleans Cotton Exchange 1873
Newport CC, one of the original clubs forming the USGA.
I.
The Berkshires -- Lennox, "The Newport of the Mountains"
Berkshire "Cottages"
In December 1868, one daily train in each direction took
less than 5 hours to cover the route from Bridgeport, CT to Lenox. That
time span included stopping at 22 other stations along the way. By 1884,
the traveler could take a trip via luxurious "drawing-room cars" (Pullmans)
from Lenox to Grand Central Terminal, New York City in the same 5-hour
span. By 1902, there were over a dozen trains each day between Grand
Central Terminal, Lenox, and Pittsfield, and transit time was down to
a remarkable 4 hours and 15 minutes! Beginning in the late 1800s, wealthy
families from the New York City area built summer "cottages" in the
Berkshire Hills, and found the railroad to be a fast and convenient
way to bring all of their necessities to the cottages for short summer
vacations, usually during the period from late spring until early fall.
The Whitneys, the Vanderbilts, the Westinghouses, and their contemporaries
brought their families, guests, servants, luggage, horses, and carriages
to Lenox on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which had
absorbed the Housatonic Railroad in 1892.
Private railroad cars soon became commonplace on the station's
siding. The cottagers also rented custom-made baggage cars from the
railroad for the transport of their carriages and horses from New York
City to Lenox.
Berkshire
Scenic Railway Museum
Cranwell, 1894
Cranwell Resort Spa and Golf Club
Lenox, Massachusetts
The Cranwell Resort is as rich in history as it is with
hospitallity.Ê Over the years, it has played host to the likes of Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Vanderbilts and Presdient
William McKinley. Standing atop Blossom Hill, the property's highest
point, it is easy to imagine the Reverend Ward Beecher, the originial
owner and the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, marvelingÊ"From Here
I can see the very hills of Heaven".
The history of Cranwell is also entwined with many stories
of the opulent period between 1880 and 1920 that is known as the Gilded
Age. The Wyndhurst Mansion was constructed then and the era's vision
of rural splendor is the source of the exceptional beauty still reveled
in today. The Tudor-Style mansion, boasting elegant interiors including
the richly decorated Great Hall with dark, wood paneling and French
tapestries, is the centerpiece of the 380-acre property with its extraaordinary
views of the Berkshires. A championship 18-hole golf course sourrounds
the structure.Ê The resortÊis comprised of the mansion, fiveÊunique
guestroom dwellings, cottages suites and townhouses. The estateÕs overall
beauty becomes less surprising once its pedigree is revealed: The landscape
was designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted --
the same man responsible for Central Park. A new 35,000-square-foot
full-service spa, an expansiveÊfitness center andÊ three on-site restaurants
reinforce the epic distinctions ofÊCranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club.
Historic
Hotels of America, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Elm Court, Berkshires Society 1905
Development of the Berkshires as a highly desirable resort
area began in earnest when Gilded Age barons began buying up land and
constructing estates. By 1880, it is estimated that there were 35 mansions
around Lenox, according to the town history. By 1900, that number had
doubled to about 75. Astors, Morgans and Carnegies all left their marks.
Today, many of the grand estates have been turned into
museums, hotels or schools. A few are still privately owned. Still others
make rare appearances on the real estate market. An 80-acre estate known
as Southmayd Farm is up for sale at $9.8 million. And now, a Vanderbilt
mansion that has been in the family for six generations is available.
The asking price: $21.5 million.
"Sprawling" is an overused descriptor in the real estate
industry. But it is an apt adjective for Elm Court. The estate totals
90 acres, and includes a 55,000-square-foot, 106-room home.
The house is thoroughly pedigreed. It was first built
in 1887, by Emily Vanderbilt and William Douglas Sloane, of the W&J
Sloane Furniture Company. The architects were the Boston firm Peabody
and Stearns, which also created the tower for the Custom House in Boston
and the Vinland mansion in Newport, R.I., among other prominent buildings.
Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Central Park in New York City,
did the landscaping.
Until the 1940s, dozens of family members and servants
would come to the hilltop house for the summer. But in 1946, after Emily
died (William had passed away afew decades earlier), her granddaughter
and her husband bought Elm Court from the estate and ran it as a hotel.
They closed it in 1957, and it was left to languish. In 1999, Bob Berle,
great-great-grandson of the Sloanes, and his wife, Sonya, bought the
property and undertook a major restoration effort, repairing original
details and adding new wiring, plumbing, heating, security and communications
systems.
Lavish
Lennox Mansion, Forbes, Aug. 22, 2005
Pullman Coach #328 used by the Lakawanna RR ca. 1911-1925
Passenger Cars: Nos. 310, 328, 329, 341, 453, 3204, 3224
& 4301 are suburban coaches built by the Pullman Standard Co. between
1911 and 1925. They are 70ft. in length and weigh 54 Tons. The coaches
were part of a large fleet originally built for the Delaware Lackawanna
& Western Railroad. They ran in suburban passenger trains hauled by
steam locomotives. In 1930, the coaches were rebuilt by American Car
& Foundry as Multiple Unit Trailers for use in electrified suburban
passenger trains. These trains served the northern New Jersey communities
of Hoboken, Dover, Gladstone and Montclair. In the early 1960's, the
Delaware Lackawanna & Western merged with the Erie Railroad to become
the Erie-Lackawanna. The E-L became part of Conrail in 1976. The coaches
later became the property of New Jersey Transit Authority and were retired
in 1983. BSRM purchased coaches 328, 329, 341 & 453 from NJT in May
1984. Coach 310 was purchased the following year. Coaches 3204, 3224
& 4301 are owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and are on long-term
lease to BSRM.
Berkshire
Scenic Railway Museum
Ventfort Hall, from Mansion to Resort Hotel to Museum
As restorers work on scaffolding that is visible from
public areas, visitors learn about the workmanship that went into the
nearly 100 estates that were built by New York's wealthiest families
in the 1880's and 1890's. As a museum, the Victorian red-brick structure
is becoming a center for lectures on the Gilded Age and its architecture.
The house appeared as St. Cloud's orphanage in the film ''The Cider
House Rules.'' Rescued in 1997, only days ahead of scheduled demolition,
this gabled and crenelated Elizabethan Revival mansion was designed
in 1893 by Arthur Rotch, who went on to run the M.I.T. architecture
department and supported the creation of Harvard University's architecture
department. His patrons were Sarah Morgan, a sister of J. P. Morgan,
and her husband, George Hale Morgan. The architect adorned Ventfort
Hall with stained-glass windows, ornate plasterwork and cherry, chestnut
and oak carvings.
Berkshires
Mansion Preserves the Gilded Age, NY Times
Ventfort Hall, built by George and Sarah Morgan as their
summer home, is an imposing Elizabethan Revival mansion that typifies
the Gilded Age in Lenox. Sarah, the sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, purchased
the property in 1891, and hired Rotch & Tilden, prominent Boston architects,
to design the house. The town of Lenox was the center of the social
season in the Berkshires during the Gilded Age, the period between the
Civil War and the First World War. Drawn to the Berkshires by artists
and writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Catherine
Sedgwick, Fanny Kemble and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who had settled
here early in the 19th century, as well as the beautiful countryside
and scenic views of mountains and lakes, many prominent financiers and
industrialists constructed luxurious and imposing summer homes in Lenox
and the surrounding area. In fact, Ventfort Hall was one of about seventy-five
Berkshire Cottages built in Lenox and Stockbridge during this period.
After the deaths of both Sarah and George Morgan, the
house was rented for several years to a young widow, Margaret Vanderbilt,
whose husband, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, had died on the Lusitania.
In 1925, W. Roscoe and Mary Minturn Bonsal purchased the house after
seven years as tenants. Bonsal, a prominent figure in the expansion
of railroads throughout the southeast, built the first cross-state railroad
in Florida and served as president and treasurer of the North & South
Carolina Railway and the South Carolina Western Railway. After the Bonsals
sold Ventfort hall in 1945, the house had a series of owners and was
used as a dormitory for Tanglewood students, a summer hotel, the Fokine
Ballet Summer Camp and housing for a religious community. In the mid-1980s
the property was sold to a nursing home developer who wanted to demolish
the building. In response to this threat, a local preservation group,
The Ventfort Hall Association (VHA), was formed in 1994. On June 13,
1997, with the help of many private donations and loans, and with a
five-year loan from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, VHA
purchased the property.
Museum of the
Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall
"Gusty Gables" is an important early shingle-style house
designed in 1879 for Miss Mary dePeyster Carey by Charles McKim of McKim
Mead and White, the pre-eminent architectural firm of the Gilded Age.
Recently restored, the home's variety of exterior shingles is now visible.
Gilder praises classic McKim features like the asymmetrical floor Advertisement
plan and a splendid butler's pantry. And in her lecture, she'll tell
how McKim's experience led to an ill-fated Lenox marriage. Down the
street, "Breezy Corners" had its roots as a country farmhouse that was
expanded over the years by the distinguished Biddle women of Philadelphia.
It has been preserved and restored, and now features a country kitchen
and picture perfect views from a wrap-around porch. Miss Adele Kneeland's
former "Fairlawn" estate was renowned for its beautiful gardens and
today, elements like massive Japanese katsura trees survive.
Berkshire
Eagle Online
Edith Wharton's The Mount
Edith Wharton and Henry James in Lennox 1904
The Mount
| Edith Wharton's Estate and Gardens
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