Kykuit Opens For the Year

The first order of business upon touring Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate that just opened to the public for the season on May 8th, is learning how to pronounce the place and what it means.

Kykuit, pronounced "ky-kit" comes from the old Dutch word for "look out" or "high place." Hidden atop a picaresque 400 acres in Pocantico Hills, the mansion offers unparalleled views of Manhattan, the Palisades cutting along the curving Hudson, and the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow completely camouflaged by trees from afar.

Kykuit housed four generations of Rockefellers, starting with patriarch John D. Rockefeller, the country's first millionaire. He made his money in oil but proceeded to spend his later years dedicated to running the foundation that would systematically give it away. The philanthropic side of this family shows through on the tour, as well as their frugality.

On Sunday, tour guide Thomas Berta, dapper in his suit and pink tie with matching pocket kerchief, was one of many well-trained staff members herding full shuttle buses of guests from headquarters at Philipsburg Manor Visitor's Center to the estate and through the grounds, house, and Coach House. Despite it being opening weekend, the operation seemed to run like a well-oiled machine, befitting the painstakingly maintained estate.

Finished in 1913, the mansion was actually considered "modest" for its time, something important to the Rockefellers, who were devout Baptists uninterested in dance, drink, gambling, smoking, or flaunting their wealth. The house, while not gilded and full of marble, clearly had its perks and flourishes. It was electrified, had central heating, an elevator, telephone and intercom systems. The special metal of the kitchen sink softens when warmed to keep dishes from breaking; a pedestal of an Aphrodite sculpture in the garden rotates to catch the changing light.

Throughout the house and grounds are artistic treasures from ancient Chinese figurines to a large Miro painting in the music room, sculptures by Brancusi and Giacometti, and an entire basement gallery stocked with such big names as Calder, Picasso, and Warhol. Most of the modern collection stems from Nelson A. Rockefeller, four-term governor of New York State and the last generation to live in the house. He's the man responsible for willing Kykuit to the National Historic Trust, enabling our access today.

What might interest the everyday observer most are the details gleaned on the tour about the real people behind the money -- folks who propped up the TV in the library with a Campbell's pea soup can and exchanged several furniture pieces for discounted models found elsewhere. Children growing up here dug old bottles from the estate's dirt – which are proudly displayed in a case alongside the famous artists of the basement gallery.

The nearby original Coach House, storing the immaculate collection of the family's stage coaches and old cars, including an electric car from 1916, is now also home to dozens of conferences a year related mostly to ecology and world peace. Fifty people can sleep upstairs here; and if you're lucky enough to be some sort of dignitary like Nelson Mandela, you can stay in one of 15 rooms available in the main estate.

While it's exciting to drool over the Tiffany portico, the greenish globes of so-called "Vaseline" glass chandeliers, the dining room's large Dresden ceramic vultures cracking under their own weight, and the hundred-year-old light switch labeled "Linden Trees" illumating the garden, it's also important to hear what good such wealth can do for the world. Traces of the Rockefeller fortune are everywhere from the eradication of hookworm and the founding of the Museum of Modern Art to the grounds we enjoy hiking here in Sleepy Hollow.

For more information on Kykuit (open now through November 7) and to book one of various guided tour options, please visit Historic Hudson Valley.org.