It’s a reminder of the “Gilded Age”, a time of opulence in America; two stately homes fit for the wealthiest citizens of the US.

The first is Shadow Lawn mansion, a 90,000 square foot estate in West Long Branch.

The estate’s history dates back to the early 20th century when it was first developed by John A. McCall, president of the New York Life Insurance Company. The original mansion served as the summer White House for President Woodrow Wilson in 1916, where he planned his reelection campaign.

After a devastating fire in 1927, Hubert T. Parson, president of the F.W. Woolworth Company, commissioned the construction of the current Shadow Lawn Mansion as a replacement.

It is the eighth largest home in the US.

It’s now part of Monmouth University and was used in the movie, “Annie.”

The other massive New Jersey home is a mansion called “Florham” and it was built by a Vanderbilt,

It was constructed during the 1890s for Hamilton McKown Twombly and his wife, Florence Adele Vanderbilt, a member of the illustrious Vanderbilt family.

Here are some of the pertinent facts about the mansion:

🏡 Architectural Style: The mansion is designed in the English Baroque Revival style.

🏡 Architects: The renowned firm McKim, Mead & White, known for designing notable buildings such as the original Penn Station and the Rhode Island State House.

🏡 Landscaping: The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the co-designer of New York City’s Central Park.

🏡 Construction: The mansion was built between 1893 and 1899.

According to 24/7 Wall Street, it cost $5 million to build, which translates into $146 million in today’s dollars.

Don’t worry if you think you can’t afford it; it’s not for sale. In the 1950s, the estate was broken up and Fairleigh Dickinson University acquired the house and 138 acres of the grounds.

The mansion is now the centerpiece of the campus.

The estate originally spanned over 1,200 acres, meticulously assembled through 37 separate purchases to create a contiguous property on Madison’s “millionaire’s row.” This area was also home to other Gilded Age luminaries such as the Rockefellers, Dodges, and Mellons.

When used as a residence, it had 110 rooms. Thomas Edison, a close associate of the family, personally designed the mansion’s heating system and boiler.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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ARIZONA — The next stage of the offseason is nearly here, which means we’re one step closer to seeing the Arizona Cardinals take the field.

While mini-camps and OTA’s will hold us down for now, we’re just a few months removed from seeing the Cardinals take the field at training camp.

Like any other offseason, the Cardinals added some fresh faces in free agency and the NFL Draft, which of course means a set of new jersey numbers.

Here’s the new jersey numbers from Arizona’s offical site, we’ll go through the rookie class (whose numbers aren’t official yet) and any numbers impacted by changes:

4 – Greg Dortch: Dortch takes over the No. 4 from Rondale Moore, who was traded in the offseason. Dortch moved on from No. 83.

9 – BJ Ojulari: Ojulari officially gave up his coveted No. 18 from LSU to rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. – the No. 9 was previously taken by newcomer Desmond Ridder (acquired in the Moore trade) before the shuffle happened.

16 – Max Melton: Melton has worn this number all through his football career – from high school to college – and carries it now to the professional level, with his mother’s birthday being the 16th.

18 – Marvin Harrison Jr.: All eyes were on what number the fourth overall pick would rock, and he somehow got No. 18 from Ojulari – we’re sure it was a sweet deal to get it done. Harrison wore this number in college.

19 – Desmond Ridder: Ridder initially took over the No. 9 from Josh Dobbs last season but didn’t get any time with the number officially before switching to 19 in the three-person switch between him, Ojulari and Harrison. He’ll look to battle Clayton Tune for backup duties behind Kyler Murray.

28 – Elijah Jones: Jones takes a clean cornerback number with 28 and hopes to continue success he had out of Boston College.

30 – Xavier Weaver: Weaver was one of three UDFA’s brought on by Arizona after the 2024 NFL Draft included. He’ll look to make the team as a wide receiver who can potentially contribute on special teams.

33 – Trey Benson: The heir apparent to James Conner, B3nson (see what we did there) will rock the clean double-number look out of Arizona’s backfield as RB2.

39 – Jaden Davis: Davis was the team’s last pick of the draft and will fight for a spot on what’s a competitive corner room with three players added to the position through the draft alone.

41- Markus Bailey: Bailey was just signed a few days ago to add depth to the OLB room. He’s a core special teams player and will likely make the roster doing just that.

42 – Dadrion Taylor-Demerson: The rangy safety out of Texas Tech looks to play as a third piece behind Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson.

47 – Joe Shimko: Shimko was another UDFA signed by the Cardinals that will look to make the long-snapper competition interesting over the summer.

54 – Xavier Thomas: Thomas was the lone true edge rusher drafted this year in Arizona.

56 – Darius Robinson: Robinson is rocking a combination of his high school and college number (5 and 6) to pair his new number at the pro level.

57 – Myles Murphy: The last UDFA of the roster and a pass rusher out of North Carolina. It’s a crowded room, but we’ll see what Murphy can do.

74 – Isaiah Adams: The third-round pick has some high expectations in the desert, and even more so after taking D.J. Humphries’ number.

75 – Christian Jones: Arizona’s other offensive lineman drafted, Jones will rock the 75 – which probably wasn’t his number when he played high school soccer before switching to football.

83 – Tejhaun Palmer: Palmer takes over Dortch’s old number and will have to claw his way to a roster spot similar to Dortch as well.

87 – Tip Reiman: Reiman is a man of faith and destiny – and perhaps that was the case when he took over another strong run-blocker’s number in Geoff Swaim as well.