Historic Pelham: Spirits of Bartow-Pell Mansion

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "The Haunted History of Pelham, New York"
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

Introduction

Though it is a New York City showplace, the imposing Greek Revival mansion on Shore Road known as the Bartow-Pell Mansion almost blends into the inky blackness of each night. During winter months, the gnarled hulks of leafless trees seem to grab at the mansion and even lean with the wind as if attempting to pluck all who come within reach from the very ground beneath their feet.

The mansion stands isolated and distant from any other structure within the darkness of Pelham Bay Park. Many nights the shrieks of owls echo throughout its grounds. Occasionally, the bawling howls of mangy coyotes that roam the park chill the heart.

Today the mansion serves as the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum. The mansion, its carriage house, and grounds have quite a storied history. The estate once was part of the Manor of Pelham and, later, the Town of Pelham before the area was annexed by New York City in 1895. Scholars believe that John Pell, a nephew and the principal legatee of Manor of Pelham founder, Thomas Pell, built a home near today's mansion in the early 1670s. Four generations of Pell family members resided in the home until, according to a variety of sources, it was destroyed during the American Revolution when Pelham stood in the midst of the so-called Neutral Ground between the principal warring armies.

The property passed from the Pells to Herman and Hannah Leroy in 1813. Robert Bartow, a New York city merchant, bought the property in 1836. Shortly afterward, he built the Greek Revival mansion of native stone and moved with his family into the home by 1842. The Bartow family remained in the home for more than four decades. They attempted to develop an area around the nearby City Island Station on the New Haven Branch Line into a settlement that came to be known as Bartow and "Bartow-on-the-Sound." (The station likewise came to be known as "Bartow Station.")

In 1888, while assembling parcels to create today's Pelham Bay Park, New York City acquired the Bartow estate. (It likewise acquired the lands that formed the tiny little settlement of Bartow nearby.) For nearly the next three decades, mansions in the region acquired by the City of New York -- including the Bartow mansion -- languished scandalously. They were subject to vandalism, squatters, and municipal corruption involving "rentals" of some of the structures to well-placed City employees for virtually nothing.

In 1914, the International Garden Club was formed "to promote horticultural knowledge and to save the Bartow-Pell Mansion." The organization raised funds and restored the mansion. Today, the mansion and grounds including the Bartow carriage house built in the 1840s are owned by the City of New York, overseen by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, and operated by the Bartow-Pell Conservancy. The Mansion-Museum is a member of the Historic House Trust and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The grounds on which the mansion stands have a recorded history that goes back nearly 350 years. The mansion is more than 175 years old. Of course, it should come as no surprise that such an ancient location with such a grand old structure as the mansion is replete with ghosts in addition to "The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds" (Historic Pelham, Oct. 26, 2016). Indeed, as the following suggests, the Bartow-Pell Mansion and its grounds are among Pelham's most haunted spots.

Whose Spirit Sits on the Lannuier Bed?

One of the most magnificent items in the collections of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum is the magnificent mahogany French bedstead crafted in New York between about 1812 and 1819 by French émigré furniture craftsman Charles Honoré Lannuier (b. 1779; d. 1819). Lannuier and his contemporary, Duncan Phyfe, were the leaders of the New York furniture makers of their day. Their work was considered by affluent Americans at the time to represent the pinnacle of sophistication and the height of American cabinetry and furniture craft.

Bartow-Pell's Lannuier Bed includes a rare original crown encircled with classical faces of gilded brass that surround a gilded brass lion's head in the center of the front of the crown. From the crown hang opulent bed curtains. Bartow-Pell Historian, Education Director, and Curator Margaret Highland has written of the bed, in part, as follows:

"[The bed] features a superb and rare original crown encircled by classical faces made of gilded brass with a lion's head in the center. Massive vert antique lion's paw feet, gilded acanthus leaves, and columns terminating in gilded foliate scrolls provide additional classical ornamentation typical of Lannuier's oeuvre from the period beginning in 1812 until his death in 1819. The bed is made of fine figured mahogany veneer with secondary woods of mahogany, yellow poplar, and white pine. Casters allowed it to be moved easily for changing the bed linens or for cleaning. Although tradition dates the bedstead to around . . . 1810, Lannuier scholar Peter Kenny assigns a date range of 1812-19. This is partly because of the bed's stylistic characteristics, which place it in Lannuier's mature antique style, with its rich classical ornamentation and appearance of monumentality. In addition, the Bartow-Pell bedstead bears the bilingual engraved label that Lannuier used during this period. The label features a cheval glass with the eagle from the great seal of the United States in the pediment. Patriotic symbols were especially popular around the time of the War of 1812."

Source: Highland, Margaret, "Crowning Glory: Bartow-Pell's Lannuier Bedstead" in Mansion Musings [a WordPress Blog], Jun. 27, 2016 (visited Sep. 14, 2019).

The Lannuier Bed at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

The Lannuier Bed, it seems, is haunted. For years those who work in, and visit, the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum have repeatedly observed that after no one has been in the room for a time, an indentation forms on the bed as though someone is seated there. The area is roped off from the public. The indentation often appears overnight when no one is present. Bartow-Pell staff and docents repeatedly smooth the indentation, only to have it recur.

Non-believers claim that the down settles within the feather mattress, creating the indentations. Believers, however, know that the bed is haunted. In fact, a few years ago Bartow-Pell arranged for Dan Sturges of Sturges Paranormal (a prominent paranormal investigation agency) to investigate paranormal activity at the mansion. Sturges and his colleagues use equipment including environmental gauges and audio recorders to identify and assess paranormal activity, particularly in historic homes. While in the bedroom, Sturges directly confronted the spirit, asking it to identify itself. According to Margaret Highland, he "picked up a voice that sounded like 'Nathan Walker.' We don't know who he was, but we do have a piece of [19th century] embroidery made by an Abigail Walker."

Source: "Haunted by Houses" in The Villager, Oct. 22, 2015 (visited Sep. 14, 2019).

Does the Ghost of George Bartow Haunt His Bed Chamber?

George Lorillard Bartow (b. 1828; d. 1875) was the eldest son of Robert Bartow and Maria Lorillard Bartow, who were married in 1827. George lived a life of leisure and never married. Not only was he the only son of the family who did not graduate from Columbia College (of today's Columbia University), but he also is believed to have devoted much of his time to horse racing as an avid fan.

George Bartow lived in Bartow-Pell Mansion most of his life, even as an adult. He died at the age of 47 in St. Augustine, Florida and is buried in the cemetery of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Westchester Square in today's Borough of the Bronx.

The reasons that George Bartow never married have not been known -- until now, perhaps.

Recently when a group of paranormal investigators including Dan Sturges (see above) visited Bartow-Pell, they spent a great deal of time in the bed chamber of George Bartow. One of the psychics working with the group was able to contact the Bartow's spirit and learned that, in life, he had experienced a grave "disappointment in love" and that he once had a fiancé who broke off their engagement. More significantly, the group also carried recording equipment while in the bed chamber. Later, upon review of the recording, it was determined that equipment picked up a voice of forgiveness -- likely that of George -- admitting "it wasn't the girl's fault."

The Child Ghost of the Third Floor

Perhaps the most perplexing apparition that routinely appears in the mansion is that of a lonely child. The apparition always appears on the third floor of the mansion and has been seen repeatedly for years.

Though the child whose ghost wanders the third floor has yet to be identified, the most disconcerting aspect of the sightings is the fact that unconnected sightings over many years by people with no connections always result in descriptions of the child ghost that are shockingly similar.

The Haunted Attic

As if all this were not enough, the attic of the Bartow-Pell Mansion is said to be haunted as well. Numerous people have heard footsteps walking above in the attic when the attic was known to be empty. Indeed, the sound of such steps moving back and forth across the dark attic above has been particularly unsettling for those who work in the facility at night.

The Long Skirted Apparition of the Mansion

One of the mansion's tour guides has seen a figure in a long skirt disappearing quickly. Was it the ghost of Maria Lorillard Bartow slipping away quietly? Could it have been the spirit of Clarina Bartow, one of the Bartows' girls, slipping back to her bed chamber after trying on one of the period dresses that the museum periodically puts on display -- often in Clarina's bed chamber? Was it the apparition of one of the many, many elegant 19th century women who visited the Bartow family and toured the mansion enviously?

The Ghostly Music of Bartow-Pell

The Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum periodically hosts beautiful concerts. It has hosted classical guitarists, brass quintet holiday concerts, First Friday music concerts, classical music concerts, woodwind quintets, and much more. Indeed, music remains an important and powerful part of programming at Bartow-Pell just as music once was an important entertainment in the mansion during the tenure of Robert and Maria Bartow and their family.

Perhaps the importance of such music to the Bartow family is best illustrated by the ghostly strains of music that float throughout the mansion at times when no musical instruments are present. Reports suggest the music is lilting, lovely, and almost hypnotic. It never is harsh or frightening and evokes a sweetness and happiness that suggest the blossom of youth -- perhaps performances by the ghosts of young Bartow family members for the entertainment of their elders.

An Angelic Presence in the North Parlor

Perhaps the most intriguing and heart-warming tale of the supernatural in Bartow-Pell Mansion is the oft-told tale that there has been evidence of an angelic presence in the North Parlor of the mansion.

Some report to have felt the presence. Others claim to have perceived it in some fashion. All seem to agree that the presence leaves those in the room with a supreme sense of peacefulness and contentedness.

Perhaps this angelic presence watches over the many spirits of the Bartow-Pell Mansion!