Remsenburg lodge on Moriches Bay for sale
The house, built around 1895, was later used by top politicians in the Taft administration. It is on the market in December 2015 for $12.5 million. Credit: The Corcoran Group
Called Seatuck Lodge, this house on Moriches Bay in Remsenburg was built by author and schoolbook publisher Alonzo Reed about 1895. Later, it served as a private club during the summers, run by a politician who served as a secretary to President William Howard Taft. The 7-acre property, which includes a nine-bedroom home, a restored windmill and several modern amenities, is now on the market for $12.5 million.
In 1910, a group that included Charles Hilles, who served as an assistant Treasury secretary and then as a private secretary to Taft, as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee, leased the property and used it as a private club during the summers, according to the book “A History of Remsenburg,” published in 2003 by the Remsenburg Association. Hilles then purchased the home in 1918 and summered there with his family before selling it in 1950.
“It’s more like a resort,” says listing agent Maria Cunneen of The Corcoran Group. “There’s nothing like it in the community.”
The original buildings were recently renovated and restored by the architectural firm Austin Patterson Disston. The wood-shingled, turreted house has a hand-carved banister, a mahogany library, five fireplaces and bay views from several rooms.
A restored windmill on the property serves as a changing room with laundry facilities. The property also has a heated saltwater pool and pool house with bathrooms, a sauna and a gym. There is a separate four-bedroom guesthouse that once served as a carriage house with original stanchions, a Har-Tru tennis court and a boat house. The sellers also built a chicken coop, which accompanies vegetable and flower gardens.
