Private island off the north shore of Long Island lists for $125M

While we’d like to think that all the interesting real estate stories on Long Island are concentrated to the East End, sometimes something rare enough pops up that we can’t help but talk about it. In this case, a private island—accessed by causeway—sitting just north of Glen Cove came on the market for $125 million, reports Bloomberg.

Dosoris Island—also referred to as Salutation Island—was built up by John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. (famous for his banking career, where he made a name for himself as JP), and his son Junius Spencer Morgan. The 46-acre private island is host to a whopping six homes, 10 acres of underwater rights, and a 28-acre pond.

The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who also did the landscaping for the famous Seven Sisters estates in Montauk, but most notably designed Central Park.

The main house, known as Salutations, was built in 1919 by Junius Spencer Morgan and overlooks the Long Island Sound facing north towards the Manhattan skyline.

According to Bloomberg, the estate is still is much of the same condition that it was almost a century ago. It stands a massive 27,000 square feet in size, featuring an 80-foot long hallway with slate and marble floors and a dining room that accommodate up to 100 people.

There are 11 bedrooms in the main house, but the master suite alone has two bedrooms, both with their own bathroom and fireplace. Nine of the bedrooms are located upstairs, while two of them sit on the third floor, plus staff quarters.

After a few decades on the island, Morgan allowed his friends to inhabit the waterfront parcel alongside him and build their own homes. Across the entire estate, there are “at least 28 bedrooms”—keeping in mind, that’s not counting the staff quarters.

On the exterior, one will find a formal garden, pool, pool house, and, of course, access to the private beach. There’s also a 700-foot sea wall, a 250-foot boat dock that can accommodate yachts (plural), two helicopter spots, an eight-stall horse stable and paddocks, a “groomsmen’s cottage,” and an eight-car garage.

For some historical context, the land was originally purchased by Peter Caverly in 1721 for 200 pounds. Morgan died in 1960, at which time the estate was passed to his wife. She held possession of the main house until the ‘70s, when the home and an additional 19 acres of land were sold to coal tycoon John Samuels. In the ‘90s, Samuels filed for bankruptcy, and the estate had a minimum bid of $5.7 million on it.

Margo Walker, a real estate broker and socialite, purchased three of the homes, and eventually purchased all of them.

The main house was featured in the 1995 romantic comedy Sabrina, and Jackie Kennedy once stayed on the island. It’s listed with agent Bonnie Devendorf of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.

• Buy a $125 Million Island Compound Under an Hour From New York [Bloomberg]
• Salutation [Sotheby’s International Realty]