Technically the mansion is located in the small hamlet of Staatsburgh which is just above Hyde Park along the Hudson River about 90 miles north of New York City and 10 miles north of Poughkeepsie. Mills Mansion is a is a great place to visit and a popular tourist attraction along the Hudson River.
The grounds the mansion is on were originally purchased by Morgan Lewis in 1792. Lewis was a prominent lawyer, military commander and politician who would go on to be governor of the State of New York.
After purchasing the land Lewis built a colonial style house on the heights overlooking the Hudson River but in 1832 the house burned to the ground by a fire that was probably started by angry tenant farmers. After the fire Lewis replaced the house with a 25 room Greek Revival mansion.
In 1890, the mansion was inherited by Ruth Livingston Mills who was the great granddaughter of Morgan Lewis and wife of financier Ogden Mills who was one of the richest men in America at the time. Not long afterwords the Mills greatly expanded the mansion to 79 rooms with 14 bathrooms and 23 fireplaces.
They spared no expense either as the fireplaces were marble and they added wooden paneling, gilded plaster work, ornate furniture and precious art objects from around the world. A coal fired power plant was also built near the river to supply electricity and central heat to the Mills Mansion.
The Mills were fabulously wealthy and had a number of other homes in New York City, Paris, Newport, Rhode Island and California and only spent part of each year living in the mansion above the Hudson River, but they dearly loved the place and over the years continued to acquire as much surrounding property as they could.
By the time the Mills both passed on in 1929, the estate was over 1,600 acres large and was inherited by their son Ogden L. Mills who would become the 50th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States in 1932. When he died the Mills Mansion passed to his sister Gladys Mills Phipps who would donate the Mills Mansion and 192 acres of land to the State of New York in 1939.
Today the amazingly elegant and beautiful Mills Mansion has been restored to its turn of the century appearance and is open daily for tours of the house and grounds and also offers special events throughout the year.
Directions to Mills Mansion in the Staatsburgh State Historic Site: Mills Mansion is located at 75 Mills Mansion 6 Road which is best reached by taking the Margaret Norrie State Park Road west right off Route 9 towards the Hudson River for a short distance until you reach Mills Mansion 6 Road where you turn left and will soon see the mansion. Just follow the signs you cannot miss it.
Sources: http://nysparks.state.ny.us/historic-sites/25/details.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatsburgh_State_Historic_Site
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