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Mason Accident Report
On 6 Dec 1912, Andrew Mason was injured in an auto accident while on his way from Esopus to Catskill NY. He was taken to Kingston Hospital. His leg was broken in two places below the knee and it became necessary to amputate the leg. He developed blood poisoning. Payne sent his personal physician from New York City to no avail, and Andrew died in 13 December 1912. After a funeral ceremony held in the Church of the Ascension, he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx NY on 16 December 1912. The Mason plot at Woodlawn contains a 12 foot tall Celtic cross. It seems likely that Oliver H Payne paid the cost of the plot and monument. -
Andrew Mason Family Portrait
Annie (nee Smith) and Andrew Mason and their family in a portrait about 1910. Their children, left-to-right, are Alice Mary (b 31 Dec 1895 - d Feb 1984); Hilda Edith (b. 1993 - d 25 Dec 1943) and Dorothy Edna Mason (b 1901- d 1989). Annie Smith was born in Scotland in April 1867 and Andrew was born in England January 1868. Andrew became Oliver Hazard Payne's valet and butler in New York, and in 1910 was appointed superintendent of the Esopus estate. He is listed in the 1910 census as living along West Park Mountain Road in Esopus. The estate was under construction in that year. Soon after the family moved into the former Pratt house, called the Superintendent's House and later Holy Rosary Cottage. -
Emma Larson Family Gravesite
When the Larson family came to the United States from Sweden, they settled in the Midwest. Children were born in Wisconsin and Missouri, and several census records note Larsons in the Chicago area. The older children, including Emma had left the family before 1900. Emma's mother Olivia died sometime before 1900 and is probably buried in Missouri. Emma's father Andrew Gustav relocated from Missouri to Chicago and is listed as living with Jennie Draminsky in the 1910 census. -
Saint Margaret Church
The foundation stone for Saint Margaret's Episcopal Church in Staatsburg, NY was laid by the Bishop of New York on 27 May 1891. The church, completed in 1892, was designed by the noted architect, Richard Mitchell Upjohn, and is regarded as one of his best efforts. -
Map of Larson holdings in Staatsburgh, Hyde Park, NY
This is a small section of map # 12026 Section 21 on file with the Dutchess County Clerk's Record office, 22 Market Street, Poughkeepsie NY. It shows the portion of the land in Staatsburgh which Emma C Larson purchased. Her first purchase was the J. Briggs property which had been sold to Mary Quick by Robert P Huntington and his wife Helen (20 June 1912 liber 375 page 517). Judson Briggs has purchased the 31 acre parcel from City National Bank (10 Jan 1878 liber 190 p 322). Joseph A Banard, son of Captain Frederick Barnard was an owner ifn the 19th century. Frederick Barnard, a retired whaling captain, purchased 100 acres on what is now Marist College land north of the water works road. Emma purchased the 130 acre homestead of William H Radcliffe from the heirs. (March 12, 1919 liber 405 page 86; March 29, 1919 liber 405 page 85; May 16, 1919) The purchase included timber rights to another property which had to be accessed through the lands of Kendrick. About 1934 she sold the Radcliffe parcel to Ethel Franke with a takeback mortgage. She reclaimed the parcel and sold it again to Raymond B Hamilton (1934 liber 538 page 387). -
Emma Larson and family members in 1992
Emma Larson and family members -
Payne Greenhouse
Payne Greenhouse -
Payne Dairy Barn
it was called "The Creamery" when used as a restaurant designed by Julian Burroughs The dairy barn contained a silo, whose circular windows were later blocked in with matching stone, perhaps in the 1970s -
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Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne
Monasteries apartment complexes and ranch houses line Ulster County's west bank: of the Hudson today. But once upon a time, some of the richest men and women in the world lived along what is now Route 9W. West Park sported residents like John Jacob Astor and Delores Ponce de Leon, daughter of the Governor General of Cuba. The biggest mansion of them all belonged to an enigmatic recluse named Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne; today it's tucked behind a small sign labeled Marist Brother -
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Pratt House, another cottage of the blue limestone variety
This is the oldest house on the estate and is the only relic of the days when part of this land was owned by the Astors [ed note should be Pratts], long before the beginning of this century The Pratt house from a picture taken 30 August 2001. Richard Foy, website editor and daughter Bridget in foreground. Bridget was a Marist Lay Volunteer 1998-1999. -
White Limestone House Front
These squat, ivy-covered, grey buildings with their high sloping roofs of blue slate, characteristic slender chimney pots, low windows, octagonal north tower are decidedly English in every detail of their architecture. The high stone wall which closes the open end of the U recalls the necessity under which each large English household was placed to protect itself against the surprise attacks of the gentry who wore Lincoln Green. Stately elms scattered over the lawns which border the roads within this group add to the suggestion of an England of yesteryears. -
Blue Limestone House
Lying to the north of the mansion, and roughly three-tenths of a mile from it, is a large group of buildings consisting of a cottage and several service structures. These are of blue limestone. The houses arc arranged around a partially enclosed area, very much in the form of a deep U. -
Front View of the Mansion
The front of the mansion is to the east overlooking the Hudson River. A beautiful colonnade of fifteen-foot white limestone columns supports an artistically decorated roof of the same material which shelters a marble porch running the length of the building. -
Side View of the Mansion
But the fact really is that this is simply a side entrance, an opening for the purposes of every day usage, a mere door for the convenience of the general public. -
The Gatehouse
The gatehouse, a classical two-story structure of somewhat sober Italian Renaissance style, logically deserves first consideration due to its location at the main entrance of the grounds, the vehicular gateway facing route 9-W. A curving ten-foot wall, also of white limestone, which leads up to a massive grilled iron portal, recessed one hundred fifty feet from the line of the highway, bears out still further the suggestion of a Florentine villa of the fifteenth century. -
Entry to Vista
Gate to the Esopus property -
Payne Mansion East Elevation
The Esopus property on a hill -
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