One of the most opulent and elegant of the Hudson River estates, Staatsburgh, an 1896, 65-room Beaux Arts mansion on 1,600 acres (now the Mills-Norrie State Park), was the country home of Ogden and Ruth Livingston Mills. Mrs. Mills, a member of the prominent Livingston clan, inherited the simpler original home -- one of five Mills family mansions -- in 1890. She and her husband renovated it in grand European style, combining her aristocratic lineage with the big new money of the era, and the result is pure Gilded Age: 18-foot ceilings, a massive Louis XIV-style dining room with green Italian marble on the walls, sumptuous library, dramatic central staircase crowned by a ceiling mural, and 14 bathrooms. The house, the first in the area to have electricity, is outfitted with all original furnishings. Staatsburgh is thought to have been the model for the Bellomont estate in Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. A number of special events (with special admission prices) are held here, including summer concerts, "Celtic Day in the Park" (Sept), "Scarborough Fair" (June), "Gilded Age Christmas," and an antique-car show in October. Note that the mansion continues to undergo extensive exterior and interior restoration (expected to last several years). Visits are by guided tour only.