Newspaper Article

WESTCHESTER GUIDE

Charles, Eleanor

1985

Overview

MANSIONS ON FILM When Monica Randall, historic preservationist from Long Island, investigated the remains of Castle Wilderstein, one of the Hudson Valley's stately homes in Rhinebeck, she found the 96-year-old owner, Daisy Suckley, reduced to living in front of the dining room fireplace. ''She couldn't afford to heat 36 rooms,'' said Miss Randall. ''But she said: 'my grand-daddy built this house. I was born here and I'm gonna die here.' '' The house was eventually preserved by local residents who bought it, restored it and established a foundation to maintain it. ''I call them phantoms because 90 percent of the homeowners told me that they shared their house with a ghost,'' she said. ''Estherwood in Dobbs Ferry - it's a girls' school now - but in 1910 Esther Wood hung herself from the stairway. The students have the ghost on film.'' Miss Randall turned her attention to the Hudson Valley after discovering that ''there isn't a North Shore any more,'' she said. She founded the North Shore Preservation Society and wrote a book called ''Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast.'' In the process she learned that ''people made millions selling out after the Gatsby era.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Randall, Monica / Suckley, Daisy