Did you ever go to the horse sales? $millions on the hoof there, as well!
No, never went to the horse sales. I went to a couple of the stable tours, though. Very impressive! I hate to see these old, huge estates being hacked up, but understand that that there aren’t many buyers for them in toto. I am looking at Paul Mellon’s autobiography, “Reflections in a Silver Spoon” as I type this (It’s raising my computer monitor so it’s at the same level as the others :-)). It was a pretty interesting read. He freely admits that his only real accomplishment in life was being the son of a really rich guy (Andrew Mellon). He wasn’t at all interested in becoming involved in business and was basically a bon vivant. He gets huge credit for starting the National Gallery of Art and donating much of his collection to it, however.
Do you remember that Bunny Mellon was mixed up in the John Edwards babydaddy affair? Bunny Mellon, who was 90+ at the time, contributed heavily to Edward’s campaign because she thought he was handsome and could be the next John Kennedy. When the Rielle Hunter story broke, Edwards sent his lackey to Upperville to meet with Bunny and ask for more money so Edwards could pay off Hunter (he told Bunny it was a campaign contribution). Bunny gave him the money. Bunny later got subpoenaed to give testimony when the Justice Department was investigating Edwards. After Bunny died Edwards and his daughter went up to the funeral and Bunny’s family wouldn’t let them in. LOL!