Editing Oakdale, New York (section)

===Idle Hour===
In 1882, [[William Kissam Vanderbilt]] built the most noted one, [[Idle Hour]], {{convert|900|acre|km2|adj=on}} on the Connetquot River. The lavish, wooden 110-room home was destroyed by fire on April 15, 1899, while his son, [[William Kissam Vanderbilt II|Willie K. II]], was honeymooning there. Willie and his new wife escaped. It was promptly rebuilt of red brick and gray stone, with exquisite furnishings, for $3 million. The building at the time was considered among the finest homes in America. His daughter [[Consuelo Vanderbilt|Consuelo]] had also honeymooned there when she married the [[Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]] in 1895.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1920, the mansion went through several phases and visitors, including a brief stay during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] by gangster [[Dutch Schultz]]. Around that time, cow stalls, pig pens and corn cribs on the farm portion of Idle Hour were converted into a short-lived bohemian artists' colony that included figures such as [[George Elmer Browne]] and Roman (Bon) Bonet-Sintas as well as sculptor Catherine Lawson, costume designer Olga Meervold, and pianist Claude Govier, and [[Francis Gow-Smith]] and his wife Carol.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uF7I1-7LlTwC&q=sculptress+Catherine+Lawson%2C+costume+designer+Olga+Meervold%2C+and+pianist+Claude+Govier.+Francis+GowSmith+and+his+wife%2C+Carol%2C&pg=PT129|title=Oakdale|first1=Diane|last1=Holliday|first2=Chris|last2=Kretz|date=24 May 2010|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781439638491|via=Google Books}}</ref> The estate was most recently the home of [[Dowling College]], a struggling school which closed in August 2016.