The tragedy that occurred at Sunken Orchard was called, “the shooting of the century.”
Hi Everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse" Today we set off to Nassau County, New York
to explore the house of a family that inspired countless novels.
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The house which would become known as Sunken Orchard was originally built by Fay Ingals
as a country escape from his stressful job working as a lawyer in New York City
He hired Stanford White’s apprentice, architect George Bruno de Gersdorff to design for him
a sprawling 29 room Georgian Mansion.
The house was situated in a park like setting with several ponds and vegetable gardens connected
by winding, tree lined paths.
The grounds became a maze of overgrown brush broken up by large fields with manicured gardens
set against the natural fauna.
Finally, Fay had an escape from work where he could relax and enjoy the fresh air.
But as Fay’s life became more stressful, he moved to Virginia, selling Sunken Orchard
to
Charles and Lena McCann who added a playhouse to the property boasting an indoor clay tennis
court with locker rooms.
They also constructed several houses for each of their children on the land as wedding presents,
keeping the family close.
The interior of the home had been finished out with deep, rich wood panels broken up
by built ins as seen in what was called the Louis the 15th country lounge.
With overstuffed furniture arranged conversationally on a brightly colored floral rug.
The window encasements were specified to be extra deep so that windows could open inward
to fill the house with fresh air.
The music room opened upwards with arching timbers soaring into the vaulted ceiling.
To truly appreciate the scale of this room, notice how small the oversized sofas appear
next to the gothic hearth, of which the upper mantle was said to start at eye level.
Tapestries decorated the home all throughout, mostly depicting scenes from nature as well
as people riding horses.
Though the young couple were living large, they loved to share their home with friends.
The tap room was said to be a favorite where they would spend the evening drinking and
laughing.
by the 1950s, the family had outgrown the estate and sold it to William Woodward Junior,
the heir to his father’s banking dynasty.
He and his wife Ann loved to ride horses and garden together, so they enjoyed the equestrian
estate for several years, as many families had.
They converted the playhouse into a recording studio where soundtracks for all of Hollywood’s
biggest movies were recorded, including the soundtrack of Around the World in 80 Days.
But their relationship took a sharp turn, they began arguing with eaach other in front
of their family and were known to scream at each other in public fits of rage.
William filed for divorce, but Ann refused to sign the papers.
In the fall of 1955 a string of burglaries targeted the Woodwards' neighborhood.
and that had Ann on edge.
On October 30th, 1955, the William and Ann attended a Halloween Dinner for the Duke and
Duchess of Windsor.
When they returned home, they each went to their own bedrooms, but Ann awoke in the middle
of the night to a strange sound.
She claimed she heard a burglar, so she grabbed her shotgun and wandered out of bed.
In the dark she saw a figure moving outside near the playhouse and immediately began firing.
That shadowy figure turned out to be her husband, William.
Ann was later found innocent by a jury, as an act of self defense, but society wanted
nothing to do with her anymore.
She was no longer invited to parties so she left for Europe, selling Sunken Orchard to
the Oyster Bay Town Golf Club.
The media sensationalized William’s high profile death and several authors began writing
books based on the events including The Two Mrs Grenvilles and Answered Prayers.
Ann and her sons were now the target of the media with no friends to lean on.
After an article was published in Esquire, Ann had had enough, she took her own life
- starting a domino effect which would lead to her two sons doing the same.
Before we continue this story, if you or a loved one are experiencing a crisis situation,
I am going to pin a wonderful, life saving resource down below in the comments section.
Meanwhile, at sunken orchard, the golf club had began extensive renovations, including
demolishing an entire wing of the house.
It was later briefly owned by the Catholic Society of St Pius before being sold again.
Today, Sunken Orchard has been reverted to a private residence and much of the original
house still stands its understated beauty.
Thank you all for watching.
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