I’m biking east along Interstate 80 and today I’m at Rutherfurd Hall in Allamuchy, New Jersey.
Rutherfurd Hall is a lake side estate, currently used as an event venue. It’s owned by a school district (!) and to the left of this picture is an actual school (elementary school + middle school).
This house was built for a socialite named Winthrop Rutherfurd, who doesn’t seem to have any worldly accomplishments to speak of.
His father, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, is an astronomer/astrophotographer. He has a lunar crater named after him, so he’s more accomplished, but that also doesn’t exactly feel like a profession that leads to money.
He is a grandson of a U.S. Senator John Rutherfurd and a great-grandson of a landowner & developer Lewis Morris.
I guess the picture I’m getting is that back in those times the social upper class married within that class and the wealth was kept to themselves. That feels a lot like aristocracy to me. I didn’t know that existed in the US so today I learned.
I’m now mere 87km away from my destination, New York City. This cross country virtual trip is almost over!