Landscape Information
Nestled within Ogden Mills and Ruth Livingston Mills State Park, this estate incorporates more than 100 acres on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, west of Old Post Road. In 1792 Revolutionary War officer Morgan Lewis purchased the property and constructed a home overlooking the river. By 1890 the estate had passed to Lewis’ great-granddaughter Ruth Livingston Mills, who along with her husband, Ogden Mills, engaged the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White to transform the house into a Beaux-Arts mansion. Designed by Stanford White, the monumental structure sits atop an expansive lawn that slopes downwards to the shore. The Mills family also constructed numerous outbuildings throughout the property, including an extant pump house along the river.
From the eastern end of the property, edged by a stone wall erected in 1906, visitors proceed through an ornamental gate flanked by stone pillars. A curvilinear drive, lined with deciduous and coniferous specimen trees, winds towards the mansion, skirting an expansive, undulating meadow. After ascending the rise, the drive bifurcates, leading south to the mansion and west towards the river. The westward drive, lined with maples, is accessible only to pedestrians, and borders the shore, affording borrowed views of the waterway and the Catskill Mountains beyond. At the drive’s southern end, footpaths connect to a larger trail network, which leads throughout the historic site and state park.
The property has been open to the public since Ogden Mills and Ruth Livingston Mills Memorial State Park was established in 1938, and it was designated a State Historic Site in 1970. The property is located within the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
