Oren Barasch
Sousa Elementary School
Mrs. Clark, Grade 5

We need to preserve local historic sites because they help us learn about our town. When my family first moved to Port Washington from Texas, we went exploring and stumbled upon Guggenheim Preserve. We were amazed by the beauty of the castle and forest and that it existed in our new home town. We were flabbergasted to learn that the castle‑like building had been a stable. Now we knew why this area had been called the Gold Coast. We wandered down the paths, had fun running in the forest and ended at the beach where we spent the rest of the day pretending we owned it.

Sadly, our family does not own this estate, rather Howard Gould purchased the land in the beginning of the 19th century, to build his wife, Katherine Clemmons, a home. The Goulds hired Augustus Allen to design the building in the style of Ireland's Kilkenny Castle. The castle, completed in 1904, was built using Onondaga limestone mined in upstate New York. Now being used as the visitor center, Castle‑Gould was named after the original estate.

The 100,000 square‑foot building had stables, blacksmiths' shops, carpenters, painters, a kitchen, dining room and housing for 200 workers. The estate's many buildings included a greenhouse, a dairy bam and farm, a hunting lodge, and a casino with an indoor pool. It was later purchased by the Guggenheim family and they built another mansion in the Normandy style.

Whenever we have friends visiting us, we take them to the preserve to enjoy its beauty and history. In the past this was home to one family, in the present it is a preserve for me and my friends to enjoy and I hope that it will be around n the future for my kids and their kids delight.

Resources:
www.sandspointpreserve.org