Rhiannon Promotions The Universal Cavalier Special Issue 2013 | Page 29
development. He also started the
Great Neck Bank and was the vice
president of the Great Neck Trust
Company.
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the family holdings. The Udall estate
included a large Georgian house
named Saddle Rock and a Grist Mill
which is the oldest continually
operating tidal grist mill in the USA.
The Saddle Rock Grist Mill has been
restored to its original shape and is in
working operation as a historic site.
The Eldridge mansion
Eldridge proceeded to live the life of a
genteel gentleman; trips to Europe,
sailing his yacht Kehtoh, joining the
Racquet Club and New York Yacht
Club, riding saddle horses and he was
an active member of the Westminster
Kennel Club.
The Saddle Rock Grist Mill
He liked the English village
atmosphere and attempted to freeze
development of Great Neck. In a
precedent setting move to isolate his
holdings from the effects of nearby
development he turned his estate into
a separate village. This required a
change to the incorporation laws in
the New York state legislature which
reduced the minimum required
residents from 250 to 50 people but
with an agreeable governor and legislature Saddle Rock became a separate
village and Eldridge became its first
mayor. The residents of Saddle Rock
In 1910 Eldridge built a sprawling multi
-columned mansion on the new land
which he called Udallia, which he
located near an offshore large boulder
in the shape of a saddle. He
transformed the property into an
elegant estate of perennial and rose
gardens which also included a stable of
riding horses, recreational houses,
vegetable gardens and milking cows
and 26 houses for employees.
He continued to find opportunities in
Great Neck to expand his fortune
including purchasing some land which
he later sold off for a golf course
(Continued on page 30)
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