Perfect Day on the Great Loop

Half Moon Bay ( Croton on the Hudson), NY

The Hudson River
We've been here for 3 nights now. The weather is bad, very windy and rainy on and off - and the harbor is very rough. It feels like we are in a washing machine on board and the docks are going up and down like we are in an earthquake. Eating some ginger for sea sickness IN THE SLIP- but feel fine.

We had no idea what this aea was like when we arrived. Our harbormaster convinced us to rent a car and see this area - not a good travel day anyway. It turns out that Westchester County is a very picturesque, historical place famous for many large mansions that were built during the Guilded Age ( when all the huge money was being made -after the Civil war to the turn of the century). The Vanderbuildts, Rockerfellers, etc, all had mansions here. Very wealthy New Yorkers would work in New York City and then take the train up here to live on weekends.

Lots of cute little villages aroud here with very formal English names.

Vanderbuilt actually built the railroad from New York City to arrive at the Vanderbuilt property here.

The Henry Vanderbuilt mansion - 50 rooms. His smallest mansion of 4.

When Cornelius Vanderbuilt died his wealth was estimated in todays dollars to be that of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet combined - the richest man in history! 1/20th of the wealth of our country waas controlled by one man!

He himself built and owned almost all of the railroads and shipping in the USA.

He was a self-made man and could barely read.

Mrs. Vanderbuilts bedroom - There were crwons embroidered above the bed. The Vanderbilts were so rich thy considered themselves the new nobility of our country.

The amazing thing about the Vanderbilts is that the third genereration extravagantly spent all that money. By the fourth generation there were 140 Vanderbuilts and not one of them was a millionaire.

We toured the Vanderbuilt mansion. Bill actually appeared to like it and it got his highest compliment - "I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would".

Lyndhurst mansion , Tarrytown - The Jay Gould Estate, a gothic revival country house on 65 acres built in 1838. It's been featured in lots of scary movies.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery , Tarrington NY- The Book Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving took place here. Amazing cemetary with graves from the 1600's of some very famous people.