Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District

The Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District is an expansive historic landscape that was developed in the later part of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century on land owned by the Rockefeller family. The historic landscape, which now includes both public and private land holdings, reflects the family's development of more than 3,000 acres of land on the southwest bank of the Hudson River that was once the two adjoining properties of John D. Rockefeller Sr. and his younger brother and Standard Oil business associate, William A. Rockefeller. The historic district encompasses the National Historic Landmark Kykuit nomination containing 250 acres and unifies all the remaining intact features of the Rockefeller family's Pocantico Hills estate, including the remaining portions of Rockwood Hall, into one comprehensive district.

The signature physical feature of the district is its system of interrelated carriage roads. The carriage roads progress through open fields and meadows bordered by stone walls, alongside water features, and over hills and ridges. The network connects the family's Neo-Georgian house, Kykuit together with its surrounding park and the Rockwood Hall estate of William Rockefeller, which was subsumed by the Pocantico Hills estate after his death. Also included in the district is the farm complex, now the non-profit Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. There are also several other contributing buildings within the district. Today the public continues to enjoy access to the road system and landscape which fall under the auspices of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. The family home Kykuit and the surrounding 250-acre park is open to the public and owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. The address used for this entry is the entrance and Visitors Center for the Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

The Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District is a sprawling cultural landscape, the result of a seven-decade, two-generation undertaking during which one of America's wealthiest families transformed a patchwork of Westchester County, New York farms, private estates and sundry properties into a naturalistic tract of staggering scale and complexity. This district encompasses all the remaining circulation, landscape, architectural, and other historic features associated with the two estates first developed by brothers John D. Rockefeller Sr. (JDR Sr.) and William A. Rockefeller beginning in the late nineteenth century and extending into the mid twentieth century, concluding with oversight from John D. Rockefeller Jr.(JDR Jr.).

The carriage road system, which is one of the estate's most exceptional features, linked Kykuit, the JDR home, with the system of roadways established around Rockwood Hall, the William Rockefeller home, which were subsumed into the larger estate at his death. The complexity of the road system is its interrelationship with the scenically varied landscape which includes views of the Hudson River, distant mountain features, thickly wooded hills, open meadows, agricultural fields traversed by stone walls, and lakes, ponds and watercourses. The estate was developed over several construction campaigns starting around 1910 with significant work during the late 1920s and into the mid-1930s. At the same time the family was also creating a park and carriage road system at Mount Desert Island Maine, now the Acadia National Park. Following the death of JDR Sr. in 1937, his son JDR Jr. guided the design and construction of the estate and park, which at its high water mark included 3,500 acres. This historic district included 3,041 acres.

Among the architectural projects were the building of Kykuit in 1913, Stone Barns (Farm Barns) 1930, and Hudson Pines in 1938. See other district entries for details on these projects. Also significant was the contribution of architect Charles W. Stoughton, who previously designed bridges along the Bronx River Parkway. During the 1930s he provided designs for the property's most sophisticated bridges both in Pocantico and the family's estate in Maine.

The Rockefeller family took a deep interest in matters related to nature, landscape, road engineering and horse-drawn carriage recreation. The family made the park accessible to the public even during its primary period of family occupancy. Beginning in 1983, family members began donating land to the State of New York leading to the establishment of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. This gift is part of significant family philanthropy supporting parks and conservation, making the Rockefeller family among America's greatest benefactors of pubic park land. Among these projects are Acadia National Park in Maine, Grand Teton National Park in Montana, Forest Hill Park in Cleveland, Shenandoah National Park, and preservation of the Palisades escarpment in New York and more.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Rockefeller Pocantico Hills Estate Historic District, prepared by William E. Krattinger, NYS Division for Historic Preservation, 2018.

"Bird's-Eye View of the Great Domain of John D. Rockefeller," New York Herald, Sunday, January 11, 1903, Second Section.

"Road Map of the Estate of John D. Rockefeller Jr. at Pocantico Hills, N.Y." 1932/1937/1957. Collection of Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

Chernow, Ron, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., New York, Random House, 1998.