August Belmont

August Belmont, originally named August Schönberg, was born December 8, 1816, in Alzey, Rhenish Prussia

At age 14, Belmont entered the banking house of the Rothschilds at Frankfurt am Main, and he later transferred to the Naples office. In 1837, he moved to New York and opened a small office on Wall Street, where he served as the American agent for the Rothschilds and laid the foundations for his own banking house.

From 1853 to 1855 he was chargé d’affaires for the United States at The Hague, and from 1855 to 1857, he served as resident minister there. After the American Civil War began, Belmont became a loyal supporter of President Abraham Lincoln and exerted strong influence upon merchants and financiers in England and France in favor of the Union. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872.

Belmont was a fixture of New York’s high society. He was also a prominent figure in the establishment of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States as a major financer of the first Belmont Stakes, part of the trio of races that compose the American Triple Crown. The event was subsequently named in his honor.

His son, August Belmont, Jr. took a prominent part in financing and building the New York subway, was a major owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. Belmont Jr. organized the Westchester Racing Association in 1895. In 1905, he built Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, on Long Island which operates to this day as the largest thoroughbred racing facility in the state.

Belmont Jr. spent his last years on his 1,100-acre estate in North Babylon, New York. His widow, Eleanor, then sold most of the estate to a property developer. The remaining 158 acres including the family mansion, lake, and main farm buildings, were taken over by New York State. Under the control of planner Robert Moses, the estate was later expanded to 459 acres and turned into Belmont Lake State Park. The mansion served as headquarters for the Long Island State Park Commission until 1935, when it was demolished to make way for the current building.

Sources:

“August Belmont Jr.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Belmont_Jr.

Drager, Marvin. “August Belmont.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/August-Belmont

Sands Point Preserve

Financier Howard Gould, son of railroad robber baron Jay Gould, created the estate by purchasing the undeveloped land in 1900 and 1901. Castle Gould, a massive 100,000-square-foot medieval castle, modeled after Ireland’s Kilkenny Castle, was completed in 1902. It was an attempt to please his wife, actress Katherine Clemmons. Sadly, their marriage ended in a divorce.

After the divorce, Gould sold the estate in 1917 to mining tycoon Daniel Guggenheim. In 1923, Daniel gave 90 acres of the estate to his son, Harry F. Guggenheim, on his marriage to Caroline Morton. Harry built his home in the style of a French-Norman manor house, atop the bluffs overlooking the Long Island Sound, and named it Falaise, meaning “cliff” in French.

Daniel, and his wife, Florence, lived there until Daniel’s death in 1930. Florence Guggenheim then built and relocated to Mille Fleurs, a smaller mansion on the property. After auctioning off the furnishings of the Hempstead House in 1940, Florence reopened the house for 75 British refugee children who resided there during World War II. Florence also donated 162 acres of the estate, including Hempstead House and Castle Gould to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in 1942.

The Institute leased, and then sold the property to the United States Navy in 1946. The Navy operated the Naval Training Device Center on the property and renovated Hempstead House and Castle Gould for their offices and laboratories. In 1967, the Naval Training Devices Center was moved to Florida, and the 162-acre site was declared government surplus.

In 1971, Nassau County acquired 127 acres for public recreational use. That same year, Harry Guggenheim died, and, in accordance with his will, his 90-acre estate, including the fully furnished Falaise mansion, was deeded to Nassau County for use as a museum site. These two acquisitions restored most of the former Gould/Guggenheim estate as the Sands Point Preserve.

Friends of the Sands Point Preserve, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, was formed in 2003 to help ensure the future of this ‘jewel in the crown’ of Nassau County, New York’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums. Five years later, the Nassau County legislature granted the Friends of the Sands Point Preserve the authority to exclusively manage and plan the future uses of this beautiful 216-acre park and preserve. In 2016, the organization was renamed the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, Inc.

Sands Point derives its name from the historic Sands Family, whose lineage can be traced back to Robert de Sandys, born in Rottenby Castle, England in 1379. In 1691, Captain John Sands and his family arrived in Cow Neck, where they built their home on 500 acres. The house still stands today on Sands Point Road.

Source:

“Mission & History.” Sands Point Preserve, sandspointpreserveconservancy.org/about/mission-history/