Falaise Museum

Roughly 26 miles east of Manhattan is the village of Sands Point, which was once owned in its entirety by Howard Gould, the son of Jay Gould. The younger Gould built himself a literal castle inspired by Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. Remarkable as the home is, his wife, actress Katherine Clemmons, did not like it, so he built a second, Tudor-inspired home nearby. She didn't like that home, either, and the couple soon divorced, reportedly because Clemmons' affair with famed Wild West star, Buffalo Bill Cody. Following the couple's divorce, Gould sold the property to Daniel Guggenheim. Guggenheim's two brothers, Isaac and William, also had estates nearby. The grand homes of Sands Point were reportedly the inspiration for the gilded "East Egg" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

In 1923, Guggenheim presented his son, Harry, with 90 acres of the property as a wedding gift when Harry married Caroline Morton. The acreage was situated on a cliff overlooking Long Island Sound, and the estate that the Guggenheims would build there came to be known as Falaise, which is French for "cliff." The couple worked with architect Frederick Sterner to design a 26-room mansion in the style of a 13th-century Norman manor. The home was designed with numerous elements of Medieval design, including thick wood beams, archways, thickly mortarted brick walls, and a round tower. For their honeymoon, the couple traveled to Europe (along with Sterner) for what was essentially an extensive shopping trip. They brought back furnishings, artwork, and woodcarvings, many of which can still be seen in the home today.

Harry, who had a keen interest in aviation and served as a naval aviator in World War I, was a close friend of Charles Lindbergh. In 1927, before Lindbergh departed on his flight from Long Island across the Atlantic, Guggenheim told the pilot to come for a visit when he returned. He did, and actually wrote his memoir "We" during a long stay at the home. He became a somewhat frequent visitor, and the aviator's station wagon is still parked at the property today.

In 1939, Guggenheim married Alicia Patterson, who came from a journalism family, and the pair founded Newsday. Alicia was not fond of some of the dark, heavy Medieval elements of the home, and made changes that generally included giving the home a brighter, airier appearance. When Harry Guggenheim died in 1971, he deeded the property, including the house and all of its contents, to Nassau County as a museum site. The home is open from May to November each year, with tours of the home offered from Thursday to Sunday.

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