The Seal Harbor home of David and Peggy Rockefeller is on the market for $19 million, and all proceeds from the sale of the 14.5-acre estate and the personal items inside will go to charities, the listing agency says.
David Rockefeller died in March of congestive heart failure at the age of 101. The son of financier John D. Rockefeller Jr., David Rockefeller was the former head of Chase Manhattan Corp. and a longtime benefactor of the Mount Desert Island community.
In his will, he left $5 million to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and $20 million to the Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve in Seal Harbor. The will gave his children first claim to the Seal Harbor home, which is called Ringing Point and was valued at $9 million in the will, but several of them already own homes in Seal Harbor.
All proceeds from the sale of Ringing Point and the artwork and items inside – some of which will be sold by Christie’s auction house in New York – will go toward the bequests made in David Rockefeller’s will.
“We are incredibly grateful to him and the family,” said Tim Glidden, president of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which was co-founded by Peggy Rockefeller. “(David Rockefeller) has been an incredibly generous philanthropist for decades and he made a huge mark here in Maine.”
The trust, Glidden said, has directly preserved about 30,000 acres and helped to protect about 100,000 additional acres working in partnership with towns, local land trusts and the state.
The bequest from David Rockefeller, he said, “is a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
The Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve is an outgrowth of the Island Foundation started by David and Peggy Rockefeller as a way to provide permanent protection for land and gardens they loved. In 2015, David Rockefeller made the latest donation to the preserve, a 1,022-acre tract that included Little Long Pond and put a total of 1,165 acres under the nonprofit’s management.
The Rockefellers played a key role in the creation of Acadia National Park. The park’s 45-mile carriage road system was a gift by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his family.
Proceeds from the sale of the Seal Harbor home will add to the Rockefellers’ preservation legacy. The seven-bedroom, 5,034-square-foot main home and estate were designed by Peggy Rockefeller in 1972 and sit on 14.5 acres of woodlands, granite outcroppings and almost a half-mile of shoreline. There also is a guest house and a round “study” along the cliff edge, where David Rockefeller wrote his memoirs, according to listing agent Knowles Co. in Northeast Harbor.
Ringing Point, named for the bell buoy located just offshore, was built upon the foundation of Dane Cottage, which the Rockefellers tore down.
The property has wide grassy trails, much like the carriage roads of Acadia, and includes rolling lawns and gardens, forest, a granite walking path with a railing along the cliff, and a large rock in the midst of the forest that serves as a meditation spot. The estate has a granite swimming pool, guest cottage, two-car garage and flower gardens, including a circular rose garden.
Among the outdoor elements is a large sculpture of a beetle, a reference to David Rockefeller’s avid interest in collecting beetles. Upon his death, his 150,000 specimen-collection was donated to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Noel K. Gallagher can be contacted at 791-6387 or at:
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