Knollwood Estate

Knollwood Estate was originally built for Charles I. Hudson between 1906 and 1920, The 60-room mansion had elements of Greek Revival, Italian Renaissance and Spanish styling with towering Ionic front columns with terraced garden and a dairy farm to satisfy his passion for raising Jersey cattle. The landscape architect was Ferrucio Vitale. The 150-acre estate devoted a large part of its land to commercial farming and pasturing. A stuccoed combination stable and garage building included space for 12 cars and apartments for chauffeurs, grooms, and gardeners. A poultry building and a hog house were also located on the estate, as well as an additional stable that housed farm horses, wagons, and implements. Accommodations included a boarding house for farm laborers, a cottage for the farm superintendent, and an additional cottage for agricultural workers. 

 Following Hudson’s death in 1921, Knollwood was sold to Gustavia Senff, widow of Charles H. Senff, director of the American Sugar Refining Company (later Domino Sugar). Charles Senff McVeigh, an attorney, inherited Knollwood as trustee following the death of his aunt in 1927. McVeigh sold Knollwood to King Gustav S. Zog of Albania in 1951 for approximately $102.800. 

 King Zog, born Ahmet Muhtar Bej Zogolli, ruled Albania from 1925 to 1939, first as president and later as king, before he was forced to flee Albania with his family following invasion by Italian forces. Zog had planned on turning Knollwood into his own personal micro-kingdom, complete with Albanian subjects, but somehow these plans never materialized. He was particularly taken with Knollwood’s extensive dairy and capacity to house a thousand chickens. But Zog’s hopes ran higher than poultry: owning an American residence meant that Zog and his family would have an easier time immigrating to the United States, which was an implicit component of his understanding with the government. If he could not be king in Albania, Zog planned to live like an aristocratic landowner in America. 

Once the paperwork on Knollwood was signed, he began looking into the possibility of bringing over whole families of servants with him to America to serve as the foundation for a court of over 100 people. Worried that being accepted as a “refugee” or an official “emigrant” might damage his claim to the Albanian throne, Zog refused to accept anything less than an official invitation and sponsorship. On September 22, 1953, after a direct petition from CIA Director Allan Dulles, the U.S. State Department finally instructed their Alexandrian consulate that Zog and his entourage were to be allowed into the United States without visas. Sadly for him, the king didn't leave the country in time. Four days later, the king’s villa was raided by Egyptian authorities, Zog was arrested, and a large sum of his gold reserves were seized. By 1955, the property had fallen to disrepair and was sold to Lansdell Christie who had most of it demolished in 1959. Today curious hikers can explore what remains of King Zog’s would-be palace on what is now part of Nassau County’s 550-acre Muttontown Preserve. 

 Sources: 

 “Knollwood: The Estate and Its Owners.” Long Island Past and Present, 1 Mar. 2019, longislandpastandpresent.com/2019/03/01/knollwood-the-estate-and-its-owners

 “Ruins of King Zog's Estate.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 10 July 2013, www.atlasobscura.com/places/ruins-of-king-zog-s-estate 

 “The Secret Cold War History of a Ruined Long Island Estate.” Mental Floss, 13 June 2017, www.mentalfloss.com/article/501395/secret-cold-war-history-ruined-long-island-estate

Farmingdale Royal Arcanum

The Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, more commonly known as the Royal Arcanum, was founded in 1877 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded by John A. Cummings and Darius Wilson, and it is a fraternal benefit society. The Royal Arcanum’s structure follows a three-tiered system which includes local groups or “councils” with at least 16 members, five state councils or “Grand Council” with at least 1,000 members, and the highest tier which is the “Supreme Council” based in Boston.

In August of 1887, the Farmingdale Council 1052 became a member of the National Council of Royal Arcanum.  Farmingdale Council 1052 had boasted that they are the oldest organization in the Village of Farmingdale.  It was originally founded under the name, Hardscrabble Council 1052, but the name was changed to Farmingdale Council 1052 in 1888. The group was founded by William H. Trou, Dr. H. Thorne, Gilbert Laurence, Humphrey Pike, Alanson Van Cott, Peter N. Bowers, Adolph Bausch, Reverend H. Blatz, George Warner, George Nuncy, and John Turner.

Farmingdale Council 1052’s first home was a two-story wooden building which was built in 1888 and cost three hundred dollars. It would have stood at today’s address of 281 Main Street, where the Divine Olive was.

Being established as a fraternal benevolent organization required all members to buy life insurance for family protection from the Supreme Council in Boston, Massachusetts. As part of their membership, the group members and their families were able to attend an elaborate Christmas Party by the State Council of the Royal Arcanum in New York. Farmingdale Council 1052 also took part in sponsoring many events around Farmingdale and New York. One event the group sponsored was Santa Claus’ visit to the Village. They also sponsored the Babe Ruth Baseball Team which played Little League.

The last information available about the Royal Arcanum was 1956 and their dissolution information is unknown.

Source:

Junior Historical Society of Farmingdale. Farmingdale’s Story: Farms to Flights. 

Weldon E. Howitt High School, 1956

“Royal Arcanum.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Sept. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Arcanum

Wardenclyffe Tower

Wardenclyffe Tower in Shoreham, New York was built by Nikola Tesla from 1901-1902. Tesla had many revolutionary ideas, and Wardenclyffe Tower was based on one of those many ideas. Tesla had an idea to create a global, wireless system for communication and power transfer, as he wanted to be able to transmit messages, telephones, and images across the world. With this tower, he wanted to be able to reach across the Atlantic to England, as well as reach ships on the sea who were traveling and may need to be reached.

Nikola Tesla was always an ambitious man and his ideas for this project were no different. Tesla wanted to revolutionize telecommunications with the implementation of wireless transmission. His dream tower was built, which stood at 187 feet tall and was made of mostly wood. At the tower’s base, a brick laboratory was also built.

Tesla’s tower would have been a prototype for a system with many uses. Tesla’s tower would have been able to broadcast music, news, reports, secure military communications, and images. This tower could have developed and advanced many fields before the history we already know, but Tesla’s ambitions on this project were a little too high. His dreams exceeded his resources and his financier’s patience.

In 1917 before the project was able to reach its completion, Tesla’s funding was pulled, and the tower was demolished for scrap to satisfy any debts owed to his financier. From its abandonment in 1917 until 1987, the brick building and property was either vacant or used by commercial businesses.

In 2013, nonprofit groups were able to save the property from sale and the property is now owned by the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe is a nonprofit organization that was established to restore the site and eventually develop a science and technology center in honor of one of the greatest minds in science. Also due to the efforts to save the site, in 2018, the site was listed on the National Register for Historic Sites and is now protected.

Source:

“History of Wardenclyffe.” Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, teslasciencecenter.org/history