Knollwood Estate, Historic estate ruins in Muttontown, United States.
Knollwood Estate is a ruined mansion set within the Muttontown Preserve, a wooded nature area in Nassau County, New York. The house once had around 60 rooms and was surrounded by formal gardens, most of which have been swallowed by forest over the decades.
Charles Hudson built the estate in the early 1900s, during a period when large private houses were going up all along the North Shore of Long Island. It changed hands several times during the 20th century before being abandoned and left to fall apart on its own.
Knollwood Estate was once part of the so-called Gold Coast, a stretch of grand country houses along the North Shore of Long Island where wealthy New York families spent their summers. Visitors today can walk through the open ruins and get a direct sense of how those households were laid out and how large they truly were.
The site is reached through the Muttontown Preserve, where marked trails lead through the woods to the ruins. Solid footwear is a good idea, as the paths can be muddy or uneven depending on the season.
After the estate was abandoned, people broke in searching for hidden valuables and caused serious damage to the walls and floors in the process. The marks of that looting are still visible throughout the remaining structure, giving the ruins an added layer of history.
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