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/