Lost Inwood Presents: Uptown’s Gilded Era
When: Tuesday, January 7th at 7:30 PM
Where: Inwood Farm
600 West 218th Street & Indian Road
Phone: 212-942-7451
Website: www.theinwoodfarm.com
Reservations strongly suggested.

The weather outside is frightful, but Uptown’s former castles are warm and delightful.

The monthly “Lost Inwood” history series has been a neighborhood staple at the Indian Road Cafe (now Inwood Farm) since 2009. It’s a dazzling visual display of vintage photographs and colorful tales featuring a different local topic every month.

This month’s talk features images from the region’s forgotten Gilded Age and includes:

A look at the Seaman-Drake mansion — built in the 1850s on the Wizard of Oz-like property known as Mount Olympus, remnants of its entry archway can still be found in modern-day NYC (if you know where to look)
A discussion around Industrialist C.K.G Billings and his palace, Tryon Hall, on the current site of Fort Tryon Park — Billings was so crazy-rich that he once hosted a 14-course dinner on horseback, which included caviar, flaming peaches, and champagne served from saddlebags
A virtual walkthrough of the Washington Heights Castle once owned by real estate developer Charles V. Paterno, and what building complex took its place
A peek inside the home of William H. Hurst, President of the New York Stock Quotation Telegraph Company, and the only surviving property from this forgotten Gilded Era
Rarely seen photos taken by the owners of these real-life castles, inside and out, which included fumed oak bowling alleys, indoor pools, and magnificent art collections

Cole Thompson founded the popular local history website myinwood.net. Don Rice serves as President of the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance, which helps to ensure the preservation of Uptown’s historic landmark. Both longtime Inwood residents, Thompson and Rice collaborated on the book, also titled “Lost Inwood,” for the Arcadia Publishing Company’s Images of America series.