New York

[MaddieM]

I found this today in one of our newspapers. Some great shots of New York, and the most amazing buildings. Gives you an insight into what it was like all those years ago. We'll never see the like of such grandeur again, I think.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ntury.html

[LincolnMan]

It was much fun looking at those pictures!

[Gene C]

If you are ever in Ashville, NC, you might be interested in seeing his "country" home. It is worth the visit, especially for Christmas.

http://www.biltmore.com/

[L Verge]

There are lovely mansions of the rich and famous in the Hudson River Valley region of New York also. And then, there's Winterthur in Delaware and more modest mansions of the duPonts.

I am trying to remember the name of a great book that I read about twenty-five years ago that time traveled to New York of the Beaux Arts era. It was a delight to read, albeit fiction.

[BettyO]

The Vanderbilts were fabulous folk.....I've been to Biltmore, their wonderful estate in Ashville. We put on a Victorian/Edwardian fashion show there about 20 years ago and were the guests of the Vanderbilt family descendants. They paid for our room and board and our car mileage down and back. No, we didn't STAY in Biltmore House, but we got a 2 hour backstairs tour that the public never sees....it's a fabulous place. And their dairy, ice cream and cheese cakes are not to be beat! They also have a winery. You can find their cheese cake, ice cream and wine in most groceries..... we carry them here in Virginia at Kroger, Martin's (Harris Teeter) and believe it or not - Walmart as well! They are not cheap...rather expensive, but worth every bit!

[Thomas Thorne]

Wonderful pictures!---I remember visiting the Vanderbilt "cottage" in Newport,Rhode Island. We should all have such cottages.

Everyone should read the prize winning biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T J Stiles who also wrote an excellent biography of Jesse James.

It might be fun to argue that a great grand daughter of Vanderbilt, Consuelo Vanderbilt saved western civilization. If Consuelo's arranged and loveless marriage to the Duke of Marlborough had not produced an heir,the dukedom would have been inherited by Marlborough's cousin, Winston Churchill, upon his death in 1934. As a Peer, Churchill could not be a member of the House of Commons which might have been a fatal impediment to being a wartime Prime Minister in the 20th century.

Winston Churchill tutored Consuelo on public speaking.
Tom