Marienruh, outside Rhinebeck, N.Y.
Given the news that New York’s housing slump has extended to the suburbs, it might behoove jittery homeowners to take the long view. As inspiration, they can look to a recent book by photographer Pieter Estersohn, Life Along the Hudson, The Historic Country Estates of the Livingston Family, for insight into what might be the longest view in modern American history.
Robert Livingston, known as the Elder, emigrated to America in 1673, and used his wife’s connections and his own initiative to acquire a 162,248-acre tract straddling the Hudson River, which they dubbed Livingston Manor. There, he and his descendants lived in what Estersohn describes as a “semi-feudal state.” They founded the town of Livingston, N.Y. on a tiny portion of the estate.