Historically known as Hyde Park, Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is one of the region's oldest Hudson River estates. For nearly two centuries, this place has been home to socially prominent New Yorkers. A superb example of its type, Hyde Park represents the domestic ideal of the elite class in the late nineteenth-century America. It provides a glimpse of estate life, the social stratification of the period, and the world of the American millionaire during the era historians refer to as the Gilded Age.

The National Park Service preserves over 200 acres of the original property, including historic buildings, original furnishings, manicured landscapes, natural woodlands, formal gardens and associated documents. The centerpiece of the estate is the mansion, a masterpiece of American Beaux-Arts design by the distinguished architectural firm McKim, Mead & White.