The tour began outside the mansion, where our guide spoke about the three families that owned the property: the Pauldings, the Merritts, and the Goulds. The side of Lyndhurst Mansion. Talia Lakritz/Business InsiderIn 1836, former New York City mayor William Paulding and his wife, New York real-estate heiress Maria Rhinelander Paulding, purchased the land overlooking the Hudson River to build a summer home. In 1864, the Pauldings' son sold the mansion to George Merritt, who made his fortune as the patent holder of a rubber spring used in railroad cars, and his wife, Julia. After her death, Anna left the Lyndhurst estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which manages the site today.

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Persons: Talia Lakritz, William Paulding, Maria Rhinelander, Alexander Jackson Davis, George Merritt, Julia, Davis, Jay Gould, Helen Day Miller, Helen Gould, Anna Gould, Anna Organizations: National Trust for Historic Preservation Locations: Lyndhurst, New York City, New York, Maria Rhinelander Paulding, French