Greentree is a

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representativ ...

Manhasset Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The estate was constructed for businessman

Payne Whitney William Payne Whitney (March 20, 1876 – May 25, 1927) was an American businessman and member of the influential Whitney family. He inherited a fortune and enlarged it through business dealings, then devoted much of his money and efforts to ...

in 1904 and was owned by members of the

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

for much of the 20th century. It is currently owned by the Greentree Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit organization.

History

purchased the estate for his bride, Helen Julia Hay, in 1904. As with other Gold Coast mansions, the original estate was pieced together. The five family farms that were purchased to make up the new estate were the Mitchell, Ketchum, Brinkerhoff, Skidmore, and Schenck farms. Later,

John Hay Whitney John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was an American venture capitalist, sportsman, philanthropist, newspaper publisher, film producer and diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the '' New ...

and his second wife, Betsey, occupied the main house, where Mrs. Whitney remained in residence there until her death in 1998. Radio and TV talk show pioneers John Reagan ("Tex" McCrary) and his wife, model and movie star

Jinx Falkenburg Eugenia Lincoln "Jinx" Falkenburg (January 21, 1919 – August 27, 2003) was an American actress and model. She married journalist and publicist Tex McCrary in 1945.Autobiography: Jinx, Jinx Falkenburg, Duell, Sloan and Pearce (1951) Known as " ...

, intermittently lived on the Jock Whitney estate with their sons from 1947 to 1977. The estate was later divided, with gifts of land being made to several organizations. * The North Shore

Unitarian Universalist Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

Society, now known as the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock (UUCSR), received a portion adjacent to Shelter Rock Road and has built a large Worship Hall on the site of the former Apple Orchard. The old clay

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

court was removed at that time. * North Shore Manhasset Hospital also received a donation of property adjacent to Community Drive. John Hay Whitney was an honorary member of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department, and donated the land along Community Drive East to be the site of the M.L.F.D. Company Two fire house, and

Nassau County Police Department The Nassau County Police Department (also referred to as the Nassau Police & Nassau County Police and abbreviated as NCPD) is the law enforcement agency of Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, New York (state), New York, Unit ...

's Sixth Precinct. The remaining 408 acres – including the family home – are run by the Greentree Foundation, as a conference center dedicated to international justice and human rights issues. The Greentree Foundation was founded in 1982 by

Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney Betsey Maria Whitney ( Cushing, formerly Roosevelt; May 18, 1908 – March 25, 1998) was an American philanthropist, a former daughter-in-law of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later wife of U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St James's, John ...

, and has owned the property since 2000. In 2004 the Greentree Foundation auctioned impressionist and modern artworks from the Whitney collection at Sothebys. The estate has hosted the

Manhasset negotiations The Manhasset negotiations (also known as Manhasset I, II, III and IV) were a series of talks that took place in four rounds in 2007–2008 at Manhasset, New York between the Moroccan government and the representatives of the Sahrawi liberatio ...

, a round of talks between

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the Polisario Front, August 10–12, 2007, as part of a set of UN-led meetings centering on the future of

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

, among others.

References

{{Greater Manhasset, New York Defunct real tennis venues Manhasset, New York Mansions of Gold Coast, Long Island Whitney family residences

History

See also

References