Kimball Atwood was a highly successful investor and business leader. He was the head of insurance companies and other successful enterprises. His obituary in the New York Times tells us that Atwood was an early investor in grapefruit farms and popularized the fruit throughout the nation. Atwood had a passion for race horses and hired Wentworth to design a horse farm and home on Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, NJ. The grand Victorian Shingle Style home and Carriage House were built in the early 1890s, early in Wentworth’s career and it is one of the largest and grandest homes he ever designed.
The property was purchased in the 1920s by Hiram Blauvelt, a wealthy Bergen County descendent of a Dutch family that settled the area. Blauvelt converted the Carriage House into a museum dedicated to art that celebrates nature and animals. It is one of the few museums of its type in the nation.
