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Ferncliff Farm

Ferncliff Farm or Ferncliff was an estate established by William Backhouse Astor Jr., located in Rhinebeck, New York. Not far from his mother's estate of Rokeby, where he had spent summers, Ferncliff had dairy and poultry operations; as well as, stables where the Astors bred horses.

William Backhouse Astor Jr. was the son of William Backhouse Astor Sr. (1792–1875) and his wife Margaret Rebecca Armstrong (1800–1872). His mother was the daughter of Senator John Armstrong Jr. and Alida Livingston Armstrong, and had grown up at the Armstrong estate "La Bergerie" at Barrytown in Dutchess county, N.Y.

William Jr. was born in 1829. In 1836, Astor's parents purchased his mother's childhood home from her widowed father. Margaret renamed the estate "Rokeby", as the area around the Mudder Kill^[1] reminded her of the glen in Sir Walter Scott's poem. Rokeby became the family's summer home. (Upon the death of William Sr. in 1875, Rokeby passed to Margaret Ward Chanler, daughter of William Jr.'s late sister Emily.)

The area that became Ferncliff was first inhabited by the sh:Wawyachtonoc, a tribe of the Mahican confederation, known locally as the Sepasco Indians, after Lake Sepasco. By the early 1800s the land was occupied by farms. Around 1853 William Backhouse Astor Jr. purchased several small farms a few miles south of Rokeby, and established Ferncliff Farm, where he built an mansion overlooking the Hudson River on River Road in Rhinebeck. Astor continued to purchase adjoining properties. The estate had a mile and a half of Hudson River frontage. At Ferncliff, William B. Astor bred racing and trotting horses.^[2] His son, John Jacob Astor IV, was born at Ferncliff in 1864. Upon the death of William Backhouse Astor Jr. in 1892, John Jacob IV inherited the Ferncliff property.

Thomas H. Suckley ("Sook-lee") was the son of George and Catherine Rutsen Suckley. His father was a wealthy merchant in New York City,^[3] while Thomas became a property developer in Manhattan. His mother, Catherine was the daughter of John Rutsen, whose maternal grandfather was Gilbert Livingston, son of Robert Livingston, Lord of Livingston Manor. Suckley inherited from his mother 125 acres of land at Mt. Rutsen, on the north of the village of Rhinebeck. In 1876, he donated the land at Mt. Rutsen to the New York Methodist Conference to establish a retirement community for ministers.^[4] By 1900, the farm that supported the retreat was failing, and the Methodist Conference sold 106 acres to John Jacob Astor IV. Apart from operating a working dairy and poultry farm, Astor maintained his father's stables, but switched to breeding hackney and carriage horses.^[2]

In 1902, John Jacob IV commissioned New York architect Stanford White to design the Ferncliff Casino ("casino" referring to a sports pavilion) to entertain guests. (It was also known as "Tennis House". The Beaux-Arts building was completed 1904. It included indoor tennis and squash courts, a bowling alley, an indoor swimming pool, a shooting range, guestrooms and a nearby boathouse on the river.^[5]

By the time of John Jacob IV death in 1912, the Ferncliff estate had grown to 2,800 acres^[6] of apple orchards, and cattle and dairy operations, and gardens; and extended from the river, across the Albany Post Road to New York State Route 9G. The property passed to his son William Vincent Astor. In 1926, Vincent's sister, Ava married Serge Obolensky. He gave her 100 acres and built a fieldstone colonial house. Ave called her estate "Marienruh".

During the 1940s, the mansion built by his grandfather was demolished and replaced in 1948 with a neoclassical brick folly called the "teahouse", to which the Astors would resort by miniature railroad. The Astor Casino was renovated as a residence and renamed "Astor Courts", the name Stanford White used. Mrs. Astor had the squash courts converted to a library.

After Vincent Astor's death in 1959, Ferncliff Farm was split into several portions. Some parcels were sold; others were the subject of large charitable donations.

• In 1964, Astor's widow, Brooke Astor donated about 190 acres at Mt. Rusten to the Rhinebeck Rotary for a forest preserve and game refuge, with the stipulation that it must remain "forever wild. The property was later transferred to Ferncliff Forest, Inc., a not for profit organization.^[7]

• About 1964, Astor Courts (189 River Road) was donated to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, which used the building as a nursing home run by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. The original home was established in 1965. A new, more modern facility elsewhere on the property off River Road was completed in 1973. Ferncliff Nursing Home served over 328 elderly residents employed over 425 people.^[8] Around 2004, the Astor Courts property was purchased by real eatate developer Arthur Seelbinder and his wife television producer Kathleen Hammer. In 2010, the wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky was held there.

• A Greek Revival farmhouse (167 River Road) which once housed members of the estate staff is now a private home.^[9]

• In 2000, the "teahouse", (195 River Road), was expanded and converted to a private home. In 2013, it was purchased and renovated by businessman Robert Duffy.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

• Photographer Annie Leibovitz purchased 220 acres which included the dairy barns, completed in 1917, which she subsequently renovated.^[10]

• After Ava Astor Obolensky's death in 1956, Marienruh was used as a Christian youth camp, a home for unwed mothers, a drug rehab center and an events space. It was purchased in 2010 and underwent restoration.

• Ferncliff Forest

• Map of Ferncliff Farm estate
• William B. Astor's mansion at Ferncliff