To cap off my Big Apple journey, a bus ride to Riverdale in the Northwest Bronx rekindled memories of Maestro Arturo Toscanini. Both he and Mark Twain had once been tenants of a country estate and family home owned by William Lewis Morris, a prominent New York lawyer.
“This Greek Revival structure, clad in gray fieldstone was purchased two decades later by William Henry Appleton, a publisher with an influential circle of friends including T.H. Huxley and Charles Darwin.”
During the years 1870 to 1871, Appleton leased Wave Hill to the family of a young Theodore Roosevelt.
The main section, Wave Hill House overlooks the picturesque Hudson, framed in flowers and foliage. One can only imagine walks taken by Toscanini during his two year tenancy from 1943 to 1945.
Today the estate contains a lush public garden, and a newly renovated Wave Hill House that hosts concerts and fine arts events. To date nearly one million visitors have been welcomed.
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