From the Bryant Room

Reminiscences

4th of July at Harbor Hill: A Reminiscence by Stewart Donaldson

By Myrna Sloam 
July/Aug 2002

Stewart Donaldson (1907-1994) was born in a small cottage on the east side of Glen Cove Road. His father, William, worked on the Clarence Mackay Estate (Harbor Hill) from 1902 until 1931. Stewart lived on the Estate until he was 29 years old, when he moved to Glen Head. In the 1950s and 60s he wrote down numerous stories about life at Harbor Hill, which he later gave to the library’s Local History Collection. This is the second in an ongoing series to be featured in the library’s newsletter.   

I will never forget July 4th 1918. Mr. Mackay always had a group of friends come to his estate early in the afternoon of July 4th.   The Boy Scouts of Troop #1, the Roslyn Blues, would meet at Scout Headquarters, which was the little barn next to the Neighborhood House (the Wm. Valentine House) about 2 PM on July 3rd.  There were probably 14 or 15 scouts. The Scoutmaster, Mr. Pietsch would call the roll, we would fall in and then march by two’s from the Neighborhood House, through Roslyn, up the hill past the Episcopal [Trinity] Church to the North Drive opposite the Roslyn Cemetery, then on to the estate tennis casino. 

There, we would break ranks, be assigned our tent locations, usually two boys to a tent. Then we would be divided into groups, one to gather wood or fuel, another to KP duty, another to cook, one group as police and of course, the bugler. We would pitch the mess tent and another tent where we stored supplies and ate, if it rained. We would also pitch our own tents and make our beds. Now that everyone knew what his duty was, we would prepare the fire and get ready to cook. Usually a large camp fire was made and each boy would cook his own supper—a steak, roast potato, then get his vegetables, bread and butter from the cook….  At 7AM on July 4th, the bugler would sound reveille—everyone up and out to the water faucets, that had been put in for this occasion…. [After breakfast] groups would be formed to go on hikes or tracking in the woods. We would return about 1 PM for lunch…. At approximately 2:30 PM we would choose sides and have a baseball game.

Now, this is why I remember this date so well— One of Mr. Mackay’s guests on this day happened to be ex-President Theodore Roosevelt of Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay. They had been playing lawn tennis and when they finished, Teddy saw us playing baseball and he just had to get into the act. He came over and played catcher for awhile. Then after a turn at bat, he took a baseball, autographed it and threw it up into the air—how he did laugh as we scrambled for the ball. Then he went off into the casino for a swim, a rub down, and then to the mansion for dinner and the fireworks that night. 

After the ball game and after Mr. Mackay and his guests had left, we would all be allowed to go swimming in the pool. We would get our towels, go inside, take our clothes off and dive in the pool in our birthday suits. After ¾ of an hour or so, we would dress and then have supper….  At night we had kerosene lamps around the camp and along the walks, and temporary electric lights in the main tent and mess tent. 

At 9:15 we would fall in, have roll call then march by two’s to the mansion…. There was always a large crowd on the lawns, the servants, their families and the scouts. Mr. Mackay and his guests would sit on the terrace at the west end of the mansion, just beyond the conservatory. Promptly at 10 PM a small canon was fired. This was the signal to start the fireworks. A large rocket would fly up from the west end of the Italian gardens and explode in the air with a tremendous bang—we just loved this. Then came the spin wheels with their whistles and swishing noises, the sky rockets flying up and throwing out large sprays of colored lights, ground displays, more rockets- Niagra Falls. Now 4 or 5 large lanterns or kites, about 4 feet tall with candles in them- the top was sealed and the heat from the candles caused them to rise and carry them up into the air. Then the air currents would carry them off towards the Long Island Sound or out on the island. They looked so pretty with the wavering lights flying overhead. After this a large “Good Night,” more rockets with their thunderous noises and it was over. The scouts would form again and march back to the casino at about 11:30 PM and go to bed.

At 7 AM on July 5th ….the bugle sounded…. and we would break camp…. We were all tired but happy with the memory of a great man we had met—we would carry this day with us for the rest of our lives. Theodore Roosevelt died on January 6, 1919.  

Category: Places and Events; Organizations; Reminiscences