1. Coindre Hall

Photograph courtesy of Lessing’s Hospitality Group

Modeled after a chateau in the south of France, Coindre Hall was the main house of a 135-acre estate owned by pharmaceutical mogul George McKesson Brown. Brown built the 30,000-square-foot mansion on the highest point of the verdant estate between 1906 and 1912. After Brown lost his estate in the stock market crash of 1929, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart bought the property and established a boarding school, which operated from 1939 to 1971 until it went bankrupt. After a lapse in usage, the school reopened in the mid-1980s for a short period as a private coeducational boarding school for students with learning disabilities.

Since 1973, Coindre Hall has been under the administration of the Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation. While the gym still hosts soccer and basketball games, the mansion itself has been re-purposed to host weddings and other events.

Next, discover the Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue and 27 historic estates to visit in New York’s Hudson Valley.