The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York is a historic mansion and surrounding grounds, associated with

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

and the psychedelic movement. It is often referred to in this context as just Millbrook; it is also sometimes called by its original name, Daheim. The (or ) estate was purchased in stages by assembling five farms, beginning in 1889, by German-born acetylene gas mogul Charles F. Dieterich (1836–1927), a founder of

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

. In 1912

Addison Mizner Addison Cairns Mizner (December 12, 1872 – February 5, 1933) was an American architect whose Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style interpretations left an indelible stamp on South Florida, where it continues to inspire archi ...

designed the four-story 38-room mansion which Dieterich named "Daheim" ("Home"). Featuring turrets,

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

s, and gardens, the late-Victorian mansion has been described architecturally as Queen Anne style or Bavarian Baroque. The estate also featured a large gatehouse, horse stables, and other outbuildings. Ownership of the estate passed from Dieterich's heirs to oilman Walter C. Teagle and then to the Hitchcock family. Siblings William Mellon "Billy" Hitchcock, Tommy Hitchcock III, and Margaret Mellon "Peggy" Hitchcock, heirs to the Mellon fortune (children of

Tommy Hitchcock Jr. Thomas Hitchcock Jr. (February 11, 1900 – April 18, 1944) was an American polo player and aviator who was killed in an air crash during World War II. He was inducted posthumously into the Polo Hall of Fame. Early years Born in Aiken, ...

, grandchildren of oilman William Larimer Mellon Sr., and great-great-grandchildren of Mellon fortune founder

Thomas Mellon Thomas Mellon (February 3, 1813 – February 3, 1908) was an American entrepreneur, lawyer, and judge, best known as the founder of Mellon Bank and patriarch of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh. Early life Mellon was born to farmers Andrew Mell ...

), who were familiar with Timothy Leary's work and Leary personally, gave the estate over for use by Leary in 1963. Peggy Hitchcock was director of Timothy Leary and

Richard Alpert Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

's International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF)'s New York branch, and her brother Billy rented the estate to IFIF (later re-named the Castalia Foundation). Leary and the group he gathered around him lived at the estate and performed research into

psychedelics Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

there. The Castalia Foundation also hosted weekend retreats on the estate where people paid to undergo the psychedelic experience without drugs, through meditation, yoga, and group therapy sessions. Leary, Alpert, and

Ralph Metzner Ralph Metzner (May 18, 1936 – March 14, 2019) was a German-born American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named ...

wrote the 1964 book ''

The Psychedelic Experience ''The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead'' (commonly referred to as ''The Psychedelic Experience'') is a 1964 book about using psychedelic drugs that was coauthored by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard ...

'' at the mansion. People who lived at the estate included Richard Alpert, Arthur Kleps, and Maynard Ferguson, while the numerous visitors and guests included

R. D. Laing Ronald David Laing (7 October 1927 – 23 August 1989), usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illnessin particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment o ...

Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, Charles Mingus,

Helen Merrill Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1930) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording '' Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation ...

, and

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

academics.

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

and the

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visited in their bus '' Furthur'' but were unable to meet with Leary.

Nina Graboi Nina Graboi (December 8, 1918 – December 13, 1999) was a Holocaust survivor, artist, writer, spiritual seeker, philosopher, and influential figure in the sixties psychedelic movement.Brown, David Jay"Stepping into the Future with Nina Graboi" ' ...

described Millbrook as "a cross between a country club, a madhouse, a research institute, a monastery, and a Fellini movie set. When you entered you were greeted by a sign that asked you to 'kindly check your esteemed ego at the door.'" During Leary's residence at the mansion (1963–1968) the culture and ambiance there evolved from scholarly research into psychedelics to a more party-oriented atmosphere, exacerbated by an increasing stream of visitors, some youthful and of the hippie persuasion. The mansion was the target of drug raids. Leary and his group were evicted in 1968, and Leary moved to California. The mansion was later boarded up and fell into disrepair, including structural degradation. But after about two decades of effort it is () habitable although not modernized. It is still owned by the Hitchcock family. In 2003, Hudsonia Institute scientists discovered on the estate a circumneutral bog lake (a spring fed

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

body of water that usually supports the vegetation of both acidic bogs and calcareous

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

es), rare in the area and worthy of preservation.

References

See also