Missouri based entrepreneur and financier Roland Ray Conklin moved back to his ancestral home of Huntington, purchasing significant acreage in 1893 to build his estate, which he called Rosemary Farm after his daughter. A few years after his home was built, Conklin decided he would make a major change to his property by converting the “bowl-shaped hill” under his luxurious mansion into a massive Amphitheater. With an inspiration of Edward Bouton’s “Rusty Rocks”, Conklin approached the Olmstead brothers again in 1912 to build this arena in his backyard
It
wasn’t until 1912, that Conklin asked Olmsted Brothers to transform a sloping
bowl on their property into an amphitheater, with semi-circular, turf-covered
tiers to seat an audience of nearly three thousand.
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. took lead on the complicated engineering project,
which Conklin envisioned would be an attractive landscape feature when not used
for performances. In addition to the difficult engineering, the significant
financing put a strain on Olmsted Jr.
Conklin took Olmsted Brothers’ plans and chose to construct the amphitheater on his own, with Olmsted Jr. occasionally providing consultation. After the death of his wife in 1919, Conklin sold the property to the Brooklyn Diocese, who built the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception on the grounds in 1924. The house was destroyed by fire in 1990.
The
ampitheater could seat 4,000 people for performances on a stage that was
surrounded by a moat with bridges. There
were jets of water that would shoot up acting as a curtain hiding the stage
until the performers were ready. Some of
the performers that performed there were: Sarah Bernhardt, Tyrone Powers, John
and Ethel Barrymore and John Phillip Sousa.
Sources:
Durst, Kevin. “Druid Ruins and Amphitheater on Long Island -.” Get Out N About, www.getoutnabout.com/blog/druid-ruins-and-amphitheater-on-long-island-remnants-of-rosemarys-farm. Accessed 15 July 2026
“The Remains of ‘Rosemary Farm’, the Roland Ray Conklin Estate.” Saturn Mondays, saturnmondays.wordpress.com/2025/01/31/the-remains-of-rosemary-farm-the-roland-ray-conklin-estate/. Accessed 15 July 2026
“Rosemary
Farm.” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/places/rosemary-farm.htm.
Accessed 15 July 2026.
