From The Days Of Gatsby: The Fallen Homes Of Long Island's Gold Coast

Ferguson Castle

Ferguson Castle was built like a medieval castle, with heavy walls some three feet thick, and details straight from the Mediterranean. The house was built in 1908 for Mrs. Juliana Armour Ferguson, the mother of seven children who used to push the furniture against the walls and used the great hall for a roller skating rink. In 1916, the house was used for the original silent version of "Romeo and Juliet." The castle is filled with relics from historic Europe, like a sixteenth century chariot made for the Emporer Maximilian of carved ivory and rubies, two seventeenth century marble lions from Verona, art treasures, some as old as the twelfth century decorating the walls, a fountain made of ancient Persian tiles, and a fifteenth century French Gothic plaque with the Madonna and Child. The house had forty rooms, six baths, fourteen fireplaces, a chapel, a servant's room and a gatehouse. The Great Hall measured 64 feet long, 47 feet wide and three stories tall. Perhaps the strangest detail was the collection of the gravestones of children from all over Europe, all under five years old at the time of their death, then installed in the floors, halls, entrance-ways and gardens of the house. [Photo via] She died in 1921, and the house went through several owners before being purchased by Suffolk County in 1964. In 1970, the house was pulled down. Rumors of the house being haunted and a hefty back taxes made it impossible to sell. Today, all that is left is the foundations and lower entrance, as well as the gatehouse.