In June and July of 1928, the architectural photographer Samuel Gottscho came to Knollwood. His camera spent more time on the estate's grounds than on the house: a terrace garden with a pavilion, an entrance gate, an allée of trees, a set of double front steps, and close views of garden details. For almost a century, 14 of those prints stayed out of public view. Then a local resident passed them to the author of the Long Island history blog Saturn Mondays, who published them in November 2025.
Those photographs explain what you see in the woods off Muttontown Lane. Most of what survives at Knollwood is the part Gottscho framed most often. The mansion came down decades ago. The garden was left standing.
What the 1959 demolition took, and what it left
Knollwood is better known locally as the King Zog estate. Zog I, Albania's last monarch, once owned it. Newsday reported that Nassau County parks officials date the demolition to the 1950s. The Saturn Mondays history gives a fuller order of events. By the time Lansdell Christie, owner of the neighboring Nassau Hall estate, bought Knollwood, the roof was gone and the interiors had been stripped. The blog connects that damage to local rumors that Zog had stored his wealth inside the house.
The demolition came in stages, and the garden terrace made it through every one of them.
| Year | What happened at Knollwood, per the Saturn Mondays history |
|---|---|
| 1928 | Samuel Gottscho photographs the house and gardens |
| 1959 | The main mansion is demolished. Garden pavilions, terraces, outbuildings, farm structures and the basement remain |
| Late 1959 | Town of Oyster Bay officials fill the basement floors with concrete at Christie's direction for safety reasons. The garden pavilion and farm buildings are torn down soon after |
| 1965 | Christie dies, and his estate of 500-plus acres is looked after by a few caretakers |
| 1968 | Muttontown Preserve opens to the public. A silo thought to belong to Knollwood is demolished as the land is cleared |
When the County took over, two estates came with the land. Chelsea, the house and grounds that were still in good condition, was kept. The blog reports that restoring Knollwood was judged too extensive, so what remained was left to weather and vandals. The garden terrace was one of the pieces left untouched, and the history says it went on that way for decades.
So the main house sits under concrete, and the stonework that framed its gardens is what still rises above ground.
Matching the fragments to the 1928 photographs
The Saturn Mondays post sets its own May 2025 photographs of the ruins beside Gottscho's prints and ends with a then-and-now pairing of one view. Open it on a phone at the site and the pieces line up. These are the surviving features the blog identifies in its 2025 photos:
- The front garden terrace, the long platform that held the pavilion in Gottscho's terrace-garden shots
- The steps along the terrace, which echo the double front steps in the 1928 set
- The basement of the garden pavilion, all that is left of a building the 1928 photographs show standing
- The side wall of the walled garden
- One of the garden's ornamental features, best compared with Gottscho's close-up garden details
Look at the surfaces as well as the outlines. The blog points to glimpses of original color showing between the graffiti, and to chunks of limestone that once decorated the back facade. Newsday describes the remains as a canvas for graffiti artists, so expect painted walls alongside the carved stone.
The same post says Knollwood takes a fairly intense trek through the woods to reach. That fits with ruins that were never meant as a destination. Nobody laid out a path to them, and for years the trails around them were hard to follow.
How marked trails made the ruins easier to find
Muttontown Preserve is Nassau County's largest preserve. Newsday puts it at 550 acres, while the Nassau County Soil and Water Conservation District lists 568. On land that size, getting lost used to be easy. In a 2023 story, Newsday reported that the pandemic brought more visitors, and with them more complaints about hikers wandering off course. In 2021, the District started installing trail markers while widening trails and clearing obstructions and invasive species.
Derek Betts, the District's manager, told Newsday the preserve had been "an underutilized resource... mostly because people weren't aware of it and also because the trails weren't marked."
The first markers went up along the route to the Zog estate remains. That route is King Zog's Loop, which Newsday describes as 2½ miles and passing the ruins. In 2023, two more marked trails were planned, for four newly marked trails in total. Those figures come from a 2023 report, so take them as background on how the loops began rather than a description of the trails today.
For a printed guide, the District's map page links a preserve trail map and a trail brochure. The map is credited to the Long Island Orienteering Club and the District. The page also says the preserve's nature center was built in 1970.
Before you go, check hours, the pet policy and parking on the County's Muttontown Preserve page. The Village of Muttontown lists the preserve at 34 Muttontown Lane, off Route 25A west of Jericho-Oyster Bay Road, with a phone number of 516-571-8500.
Two guided walks before the year ends
If you have never found Knollwood, or want to see Chelsea and Knollwood on the same walk, the Long Island Greenbelt Trail Conference has two walks in the preserve on its calendar. They suit different kinds of walkers.
Saturday, November 21, 2026, noon to 2 p.m.: Muttontown Co. Preserve. Long Island Greenbelt runs this one jointly with the Sierra Club Long Island Group. It is a moderate walk of more than 3 miles that visits the grounds and ruins of the King Zog estate. Registration is required, and the event listing gives the leader's contact details. The group meets at the Bill Patterson Nature Center at the north end of the park, listed at 38 Muttontown Lane off Route 25A. Rain cancels, and the listing does not mention a fee. This is the shorter option and the one built around Knollwood.
Wednesday, December 16, 2026, 9 a.m. to noon: Muttontown Preserve Meander. This is the longer walk, about 6.5 miles at a 3 mph pace, with 300 to 400 feet of elevation gain, rated light to moderate. The route circles the grounds of the Chelsea Estate and the former Winthrop Mansion and passes ruins left by earlier owners. The listing says to meet by the Bill Paterson Nature Center, entering by Locust Lane, at 34 Muttontown Lane. It also warns that trails can be uneven and tight in places, asks walkers to bring water and snacks, and mentions one road crossing roughly midway to two-thirds of the way through. Heavy rain cancels, and the leader asks anyone unsure about the weather to get in touch that morning.
The two listings give different Muttontown Lane street numbers for the same nature center. Confirm the meeting spot with the leader when you register.
| November 21 | December 16 | |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | More than 3 miles | About 6.5 miles |
| Focus | King Zog estate grounds and ruins | Chelsea Estate and former Winthrop Mansion grounds |
| Organizers | Long Island Greenbelt with Sierra Club Long Island Group | Long Island Greenbelt |
| Weather | Rain cancels | Heavy rain cancels |
Taken together, the two walks cover both of the estates the County inherited in 1968: Chelsea, which was kept, and Knollwood, which was left alone. On the November walk, bring the Gottscho photographs and look for the terrace from the 1928 pavilion shots.
Knowing the history of the land around a home is part of how Andrea Sorrentino and the team think about Muttontown, including the estate grounds that became public preserve. If you own property near the preserve and want to talk through how its setting fits into your home's story, we are glad to start with a Confidential Valuation.
