After the completion of Coe Hall, the family divided their time between a New York City town house, the ranch in Wyoming, and Planting Fields. Generally they visited Long Island for longer periods during the spring and fall, and for weekends during winters in New York City. Like many North Shore estates, Planting Fields was almost totally self-contained. The grounds included a large kitchen garden, chickens, and approximately 25 dairy cows. A miniature railway in the mansion's basement carried coal to the boilers. The agricultural pursuits of Gold Coast estates were rarely efficient enough to produce enough to support the entire estate, but mirroring the country manors of British royalty was more to the point. ________________________ Servants The amount of servants present at Planting Fields varied greatly across the seasons and the years. In the spring and fall, when the Coes would have been in residence at Planting Fields and when the majority of work was needed on the grounds, there would naturally be more staff present. During the winter there were far fewer servants on the grounds and almost none in the house. During the summer months, the Coes' house servants would have traveled with them to Cody, Wyoming, while a large contingency of grounds men stayed at Planting Fields. In the spring and summer, between the stable, dairy, greenhouses, farm, chicken coops and gardens, Mr. Coe could expect to employ between 35 and 50 men in during the summer months. Between 1913 and 1955, there were fewer and fewer servants at Planting Fields for several reasons. The first reason has to do with the Coe family. In the early years at Planting Fields, the Coes had four young children who would have had their own assemblage of nurses and governess'. Typically, from the time an infant was born until they will about four or five years old, a nurse lived with them in the nursery or children's wing to look after them. Once a child reached the age of four or five, a governess was hired. The governess had absolute authority over the raising of the children, besides of course, the children's parents. The governess was generally French, English or German and taught the children to speak those languages with fluency as well as teaching them manners, grooming, lessons and possibly to play a musical instrument. The Coe boys were sent to St. Paul's boarding school in New Hampshire, while Natalie attended several private finishing schools in New York and Manhattan. The governess was responsible for seeing to their needs while away at school and for watching over them while they were on holiday and their parents were abroad. Understandably, a child's relationship with his or her governess was a close one. Servants typically found their jobs were good ones, especially before the reform of factory work. Those who work in the service of wealthy families typically had room and board as well as their wages. Most families, like the Coes, would have scullery maids and chauffeurs whose job it was to wait on the rest of the serving staff. Servants' children were chauffeured to school and church, and domestic help was chauffeured to the train station to take shopping trips in Manhattan. The downside is that in the life of a domestic servant, their time was not their own. If the Housekeeper had to be awake at 4 AM to ensure that the house was clean and breakfast prepared for the family, they would also still have to be awake at 4 AM the next morning to serve madam's guests coffee after a party that ran late. The early 20th century saw improvements in factory work that came with child labor laws, safer machinery, the eight-hour work day and Ford's 5-dollar work day, Still, it was not until after World War I that factory work became an attractive alternative to those who would have gone into domestic service, most especially women. By the late teens and early twenties, factory work was the single greatest employer below farm work and the number of people entering the domestic service fell off sharply. The number of immigrants also fell off sharply after World War I. New immigration laws sharply curtailed the waves of immigrants flooding New York's harbors. Recent immigrants made up the majority of domestic servants. As we have no housekeeping records for Coe Hall we can only speculate on the number of servants required by the Coes. The staff may have numbered as many as twenty in the height of Planting Fields' use in the late teens and early 1920's, with most of the help living in the half-timbered servants' wing. In the servants' wing, there are second floor bedrooms, bathrooms, sewing rooms and linen closets for the female serving staff, while the male serving staff occupied the third floor rooms. Included in the staff were several footmen, a parlor maid, a couple of chamber maids, Mrs. Coe's personal attendant, Mr. Coe's valet, two cooks, a housekeeper, scullery maids and three servants to assure each room of the house had fresh floral arrangements each day. The Coes or their guests beckoned the serving staff with small, sometimes fancifully disguised call buttons throughout the house. The call button would light up a panel located in the kitchen area and servants' wing indicating which room needed attendance. Before answering the call, they would press a button at the bottom of the panel that would clear the lighted room to show the other staff that the call had been answered. During the 1930's the undisputed King of the servants was Jocelyn, W. R. Coe's butler and valet. He laid out Mr. Coe's clothing, opened the door for callers, and looked after the silver. Known by his staff as the "Iron Duke," Mr. Coe was an exacting master who valued discipline and routine. He desired loyalty from his servants who, for the most part, seemed satisfied, serving with little turnover throughout the years. In addition to the house staff, the Coes employed men to care for the grounds. Their numbers changed depending on the season; however, we know that late spring was the peak period for grounds employment. W.R Coe with Jockey and his race horse "Pompey" Horses Aside from horticulture, W. R. Coe's other consuming passion was horses, particularly racehorses. His interest apparently began when he made an investment of $1,000 along with 50 Piping Rock Racing Association members to purchase 50 yearlings. By 1919 he raced his own horses at Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1923 he paid $110,000 for THE FINN, a record price at the time for a horse bought solely for stud.   Mai Coe and Feathered Friend Birds Like many of the most fashionable people of their era, both W. R. Coe and Mai Rogers had a great liking for exotic birds, including parrots and macaws. The Coes took several trips to the Caribbean, during which they purchased birds to bring home. While a teenager away at boarding school, Natalie was once promised a bird from Jamaica by her father if she was good while he and Mai were away. Both W.R. and Mai Coe were known to have kept birds in his/her bathroom, making the noise at their end of the house considerable.   The Manor House The Manor House After Mr. Coe's death in 1955, Caroline Coe hired architect Eric Gugler to design another house on the estate, today known as the Manor House. At the time, Mrs. Coe was confined to a wheelchair and Gugler designed the house to accommodate her disability. Many furnishings were removed from Coe Hall to furnish this house, including mantel pieces and lighting fixtures.   W.R. Coe canoeing c.1914 Coe and the West In 1905 W. R. Coe spent a month hunting in Montana. His description of the trip was found among the Coe family history notes kept by Miss Marguerite Pettet, Mr. Coe's personal secretary. "In 1905 I spent a month on a hunting trip in the Two Medicine Country, Montana, which is now part of Glacier Park. My guide was Thomas Dawson. "I was accompanied by my brother (George) and Captain D. Gay Stivers who was in the legal department of the Amalgamated Copper Company and who arranged the trip. "Dawson was a half-breed. He told me his father was a Scotsman and I understood him to say his mother was a Piegan Indian. I was surprised to find him well educated, and understood from him that his father had taken him to Edinburgh and he received education there. After the death of his father he returned and lived among the Piegan Indians and later became a licensed guide. "We detrained from the Great Northern Railway at a station called Midvale, which is now called Glacier Park Station. Dawson had a small ranch south of the railroad. "I did not visit Glacier Park again until July 1940, and on mentioning that I had been in that country in 1905 and had a guide named Tom Dawson I learned he was in charge of the curio shop at the Glacier Park Station. I went to see him, and as I approached him he called me by name although he had not seen me in thirty-five years. He was well dressed, and while he was probably in his eighties he did not look it and was apparently in very good health. " I understood that Dawson Pass in Glacier Park was named after his father." Coe's affection and respect for Dawson persisted, and his likeness appears on the left corbel, south of the formal dining room door in the cloister court. A Wyoming family outing Irma Lake Lodge In l908 Coe went to Wyoming and at the end of the month decided to purchase property there. Two years later he bought Buffalo Bill Cody's ranch and commissioned the architectural firm of Walker and Gillette to build Irma Lake Lodge. Throughout the years Coe continued purchasing land. In all he amassed 200,000 acres which he used to graze cattle and sheep, and raise alfalfa for winter feed. The Coes made the annual journey to Cody, Wyoming, in their private railway car, while the servants traveled in another part of the train. Frequently Joe Ebel, the chauffeur, would drive out ahead of the family, accompanied by some of the other servants. The ranch was located on Carter Mountain, 7,500 feet above sea level and approximately 23 miles from Cody by unpaved road. Just as at her other homes, Mai Rogers was in charge of the staff which sometimes numbered as many as 36. Twice a week a truck was sent to town for supplies. Benefactions to Cody Having adopted Wyoming as his official residence in 1912, W. R. Coe made a number of gifts to the town of Cody throughout the years. Some of the gifts Mr. Coe was responsible for include: The huge courthouse clock. During both World War I and World War II, Coe made sure bond drives were successful by supplying any needed balance. He bought the bonds which financed street paving projects. He gave $250,000 for the completion of the hospital. He provided the third floor of the hospital complex. He supported the original Christ Episcopal Church in Cody. At his death, Coe left sizable endowments for both the hospital and the Buffalo Bill Museum. He set up the Coe Foundation. W.R. Coe receiving an honary degree from the University of Wyoming in 1940 Coe Foundation Under the auspices of the Coe Foundation, W. R. Coe gave the Buffalo Bill Museum many western paintings and sculptures, including the Remington Studio Collection. Perhaps his most important work through the foundation, however, was the development of American Studies programs throughout the country. In 1949 Coe read an article in the New York Times indicating that only one third of American colleges included United States History as a major. Coe began in 1952 by financing a summer refresher course in United States History for high school teachers at the University of Wyoming. A year later he endowed the University's American Studies program with a gift of $750,000. Altogether the University of Wyoming received over $2,500,000 in gifts and bequests, including the financing of the American Studies wing of the library, acquisition of books, endowment of a chair of American Studies, ten undergraduate scholarships, eight graduate fellowships, and endowment for summer programs of refresher courses. Coe also gave Yale University $500,000 to establish a professorship in American History. In all, Coe and the Coe Foundation sponsored summer programs at over 40 different colleges and universities, totaling more than $1,250,000. A memorial tablet placed by a garden path in memory of Mr. William Robertson Coe who gave his beloved "Planting Fields" to the people of the great state of New York so that it might be preserved and developed as a public arboretum. Anecdotes 1. W. R. Coe was involved in one of the largest tree moving operations in the Northeast. When Mai Rogers' father, H. H. Rogers died, the family estate in Fairhaven, Massachusetts was scheduled to be subdivided. Mai decided to rescue two mature copper beeches that she had played under as a child. W. R. Coe made arrangements through Standard Oil to have the trees barged across Long Island Sound in the dead of the winter. When the trees arrived in Oyster Bay, arrangements had to be made to take down telephone lines, and to hire steam rollers to push the trees and teams of horses to pull the trees to Planting Fields. One copper beech survived and can still be seen on the west lawn. . The trees arrive at the port of Oyster Bay 2. Mrs. Mai Coe once kept two of Robert Chanler's macaws in the playroom of the New York City house where they did $500 worth of damage in one night. Mr. Coe was not pleased. 3. William Robertson Coe to Mai Coe: "You always send those boys (Bill and Bob at St. Pauls) telegrams. Why do you do that? It's too expensive. Why don't you write letters?" Mrs. Coe: "You shut up! I'm old enough and rich enough to do as I damn well please." 4. The Coes owned automobiles quite early. Once Bob Coe went out riding near Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and killed 20 or 30 chickens, costing him quite a bit of money. Sunday afternoons could be quite ghastly, what with the old touring cars and the crowded roads of the 1920's. Mai and son(Henry) in go-cart taken in the garden 5. One spring the American Orchid Society was going to hold its annual meeting at Planting Fields. Coe allowed them to use the large room at Coe hall, but had the house boy turn back the big rug because he didn't want this group of people walking on the Oriental carpet. According to Mr. Miller, it was quite a sight to see a group of distinguished people in the Orchid Society walking through the main residence, but walking to the side of the rolled rug! 6. Mrs. Caroline Coe liked to have flowers in her New York apartment. One summer she had her apartment redone in pink, and she wanted large, massive arrangements of pink flowers for a party. There were few pink flowers blooming at Planting Fields, so Everitt Miller dyed many white flowers, including some big white cannas. Mr. Coe marveled at the large "pink" cannas and asked Miller where he got them. Miller explained about the dipping. Mr. Coe laughed and replied, "For heaven's sake, don't tell Mrs. Coe." (Late 1940's) Mrs. Caroline Coe in the rose garden 7. After meeting the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mrs. Caroline Coe was asked if she had invited them to Oyster Bay. "Oh heavens no," she replied, "they stay too long." 8. In 1936 the Coe residence was robbed. A burglar climbed up a column and entered Mr. Coe's room. He had a habit of leaving his change, wallet, and jewelry on the mantel. The burglar scooped it all up, then got the jewelry from Mrs. Coe's room. After that, Mr. Coe never left his jewelry on top of the mantel. That same summer grandchildren Michael and William Coe were living at Planting Fields while their parents were on a European tour. The robbery was an exciting time for them, the house crawling with detectives, everyone in an uproar. The thief was never caught nor was any of the stolen material ever recovered. Grandsons William R.Coe II and Michael D.Coe. 9. On one visit to the estate, Mr. Coes' grandsons, Michael and Billy, were playing in the reception room where they spilled ink in the middle of the wall-to-wall carpet. They panicked, and ran outside to scoop up piles of fallen leaves to conceal the stain. That Christmas Mr. Coe withheld their money gifts to pay for cleaning the carpet. Coe-Rogers Wedding There was a quiet wedding Monday afternoon at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Rogers, 26 East 57th Street, New York, when Miss Mai Rogers, daughter of Mr. Rogers by his first marriage, was wedded to William R. Coe, an Englishman, now residing in New York but formerly of Philadelphia. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. Robert Collyer, pastor of the Church of the Messiah, on East 34th Street, in the presence of a limited number of relatives and intimate friends. The bride had no attendants. She wore a gown of heavy white satin, which was almost entirely enveloped by a veil of embroidered tulle. This veil was held in place by a diamond sunburst, and at the corsage was worn an ornament of diamonds in the shape of a Maltese Cross, the bridegroom's gift. Mr. Coe's best man was Eugene Bicknell, and the ushers were Messrs. Richard M. Montgomery, F. B. Campbell, D. F. Fox, George V. Coe, and Henry H. Rogers, Jr. The drawing room in which the ceremony took place, was beautifully decorated with festoons of Japanese asparagus, mingled with apple blossoms and roses, with a background of graceful palms. Mrs. Rogers, the bride's stepmother, received with the bridal party at the reception that followed the marriage ceremony. She wore a gown of white silk and white organdy with a pattern of violets. Her jewels included several strings of beautiful pearls, with diamond ornaments in the coiffure and corsage. At the reception, only intimate friends of the family were present; the collation was served by Sherry. Mr. Coe was a widower before his marriage to Miss Rogers. He is a member of the Calumet Club of New York, of the Staten Island Cricket Club, and the Merion Cricket Club of Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Coe were passengers on the steamer ST. PAUL. Wednesday for Europe. They will be at Fairhaven later in the summer. Source Fairhaven STAR June 9, 1900, P.2. col. 4 Mai Rogers Coe Natalie Mai Coe - Count Leonardo Vitetti May 19,1934 The ceremony was held at noon in the Living Room (Great Hall) of the mansion, which had been transformed into a floral chapel. Pink and white dogwood branches almost concealed the walls. There was a center aisle with guests seated on both sides, leading to a marble altar, banked with white orchids from the greenhouses on the estate. The bride wore a gown of antique ivory satin made on simple lines, with a cowl neck and long tight sleeves with cuffs falling over her hands. She had a long tulle veil edged with rosepoint lace which fell in billowy folds to the end of her very long train. On approaching the altar she wore over her face a little veil, which was thrown back after the ceremony. She carried a satin bound prayer book with a jeweled marker from which was suspended a jeweled Maltese cross. Her only ornament was a diamond brooch fastened at the collar of her gown. The matron of honor wore a long gown of yellow mouseline de soie with a picture hat of the same shade. The bridesmaids wore long gowns of green mouseline de soie and picture hats in the same shade of green. They carried garlands of Caludius Pernet roses (sunflower yellow) and daisies. The Italian ambassador to the United States was the best man. The grooms and ushers wore dress uniforms. Official witnesses for the bride were her uncles Henry H. Rogers, Jr. and George V. Coe. Witnesses for the groom were Count Galeazzo Ciano di Corteliazzo, son-in-law of Benito Mussolini, who was represented by Lucianno Mascic, an usher, and the press representatives of the Italian government. The Apostolic Delegate performed the ceremony, assisted by a priest from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and the rector of St. Dominic's Church in Oyster Bay. An organ was specially installed for the service. Music was provided by an organist, harpist, violinist, and ten members of the choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral, under the direction of the choirmaster. The wedding breakfast was served out-of-doors at small tables scattered about the terrace. *Count Ciano had been denied an entry visa, so he could not attend the wedding. Sources: New York Herald Tribune, 20 May 1934 New York Times, 20 May 1934 New York Journal American, 20 May 1934