Hempstead House

 Hempstead House is one of four mansions on the grounds of the Guggenheim Estate, which also includes Castle Gould, Falaise and Mille Fleur. The Tudor-style castle served as a summer residence for the family.

It was designed by architects Hunt & Hunt in 1912. This 50,000-square-foot three-story mansion is 225 feet long and 135 feet wide. It has 40 rooms, including a 60-foot-tall entry foyer. Inside the foyer, the imposing vaulted ceiling illustrates the extraordinary lifestyle of the roaring 1920s and 1930s. The foyer’s magnificent Wurlitzer Opus 445 Theatre Organ is fully restored. 

The library was copied from the palace of King James I and portraits of literary figures still decorate its ceiling. The Billiard Room originally featured a gold leaf ceiling, hand-tooled leather wall coverings, and carved oak woodwork from a 17th-Century Spanish palace.

The sunken Palm Court once contained 150 species of rare orchids, plants and potted trees. An aviary housed exotic birds in ornate cages among the flowers. On the mezzanine level is the Breakfast Room with leaded windows on three sides overlooking the park grounds. All of the rooms on the second floor have carved fireplaces and are detailed with plaster trim on the walls and ceilings, each in a unique style.

After Daniel Guggenheim’s death in 1930, his wife Florence closed Hempstead House and built the fourth mansion on the property, Mille Fleur, a smaller waterside home for herself. Hempstead House’s furnishings were sold in 1940, and Florence opened the mansion to children evacuated from the war in Europe until foster homes could be found for them. In 1942, she donated 162 acres of the estate to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. The U.S. Navy purchased the property in 1946 for a Naval Training Device Center, and, in 1971, the property was acquired by Nassau County.

Today, Hempstead House is used for concerts, lectures, and private events, such as weddings.

Source:

“Hempstead House.” Sands Point Preserve, sandspointpreserveconservancy.org/about/hempstead-house/. Accessed 23 June 2023

St. George's Church Hempstead

St. George’s Church was founded in 1704 and was supported by the wealthy farmers in the surrounding countryside. The church’s early members included names are well known on Long Island: the Conklins and Carmans; Hewletts and Seamans. 

St. George’s consists of the church building itself, which was built in 1822. Across Front Street is the rectory, which dates from 1793. The church was first occupied by the Yankees early in 1776, then by the redcoats from mid-1776 until 1783. For much of the war, Hempstead was occupied by the British who apparently didn’t treat it well. A story told is that the church’s weather vane was used for target practice by Hessian soldiers. After the war, St. George’s changed both their name -from Anglican to Episcopalian and their service (for example, not having prayers for the King). 

Many of the most important figures in the history of Nassau County were members of the church and they were buried under it or on the grounds starting in 1724. Amy Vacchio, working at Rock Hall Museum became frustrated at the lack of knowledge of who was buried in the cemetery. Working with the Rev. Ajung Sojwal and Matt Longo, a part-time archivist at Rock Hall, Vacchio has established Friends of Historic St. George Cemetery. The church records were all digitized and placed online.

Vacchio and Longo are searching the archives of the church to identify many of the 700 people believed to have been interred in the cemetery and to decipher where they were buried; a task made difficult because of gravestones that are missing or severely damaged. From that, a map was being created of the cemetery and also placed online.

The current building contains oak interior columns that were dragged across the Hempstead Plains by horse, then hewn and installed in the sanctuary. More than one of the beautiful stained glass windows was designed by Tiffany Studios.

Sources:

Bleyer, Bill. “Volunteers, Church Work to Restore St. George’s Cemetery.” Newsday, 31 May 2022, www.newsday.com/long-island/li-life/efforts-revitalize-historic-st-georges-cemetery-r8hnpr9a

Hanc, John. “History and Time Flip the Script at Hempstead Church.” Newsday, 28 Jan. 2018, www.newsday.com/long-island/li-life/hempstead-st-george-s-church-n73143

“St. George’s Episcopal Church (Hempstead, New York).” Wikipedia, 12 Aug. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George%27s_Episcopal_Church_(Hempstead,_New_York)