The Allee

We all arrived at Old Westbury Gardens about an hour before the visitors do so we can set up our telescopes.  Driving in to the estate, you come down a long, straight driveway with a double row of trees on either side.  These are the trees on just one side and you can see the driveway to the right.  This is called an allee, which is a French term.  Old Westbury Gardens is the former estate of John Shaffer Phipps, heir to a U.S. Steel Fortune.  Work on the estate began in 1903.  Westbury house, the mansion, contains 23 rooms, and the grounds and gardens cover 160 acres.  The gardens are just stunning and worth a trip to this magnificent estate.