By Dorothea Cappadona

In 1921 Marshall and Evelyn Field purchased three estates on the strip of land known as Lloyd Neck or Lloyd’s Neck. Immediately, the Fields set out to recreate a self-sufficient, county estate, much like the one that the family had enjoyed at Cadlands in England. Recreating such an estate entailed the literal creation of hills, swale, gardens, ponds, meadows, forested areas, roads, and buildings. It involved the removal of cemeteries, the creation of a causeway, the building of docks, to receive the building materials, the hiring of an architect and a landscape architect, the dredging of an existing pond, and the creation of a water source and a power supply. Obviously, it took years to complete the magnificent estate that came to be known as Caumsett.

Marshall Field III had the distinction of being the richest man in the world during his lifetime. He had inherited a sizable fortune from his grandfather, Marshall Field I, who had founded the legendary department store (named after himself) in Chicago. However, Marshall Field III added properties in NYC, Long Island, Maine, South Carolina, etc. to accommodate his lifestyle as a publisher, philanthroper, merchant, banker, and farmer.

Caumsett, on Long Island’s “Gold Coast” was only one of the many properties which Field owned simultaneously. Clearly, Caumsett’s virtues included its easy access to NYC by plane, yacht, or automobile and its private resort-like qualities. The Fields used Caumsett for hunting, polo, riding, sailing, yachting, swimming, tennis. Botanical pursuits, dairy business, and large parties- among other uses. 

1. Caumsett, the Estate of Marshall Field III