Belvedere Estate is the former
Tarrytown, New
York residence of Reverend
Sun Myung Moon. The estate is owned by the
Unification Church.
Right next door to
the
Lyndhurst historic mansion (former
residence of
Robber baron Jay Gould), Belvedere Estate lies
on 35 acres<ref>According to
The Journal
News/August 7, 2003: Unification Church plans house of worship in
Tarrytown, it was 35 acres at that time. In the 1993 book
A
History Of The Unification Church In America, 1959–74: Emergence of
a National Movement, Dr. Michael Mickler (now academic Dean of
the
Unification Theological
Seminary) describes Belvedere as having been purchased as a
22-acre estate; the Unification Church purchased additional land in
Tarrytown afterward. A Tarrytown Daily News article on Aug. 4, 1994
by Rob Ryser cites 200 acres, but this probably includes land owned
by the Unification Church in the Tarrytown area not technically
part of the Belvedere Estate.</ref> overlooking the
Hudson River,
thirty miles north of New York City.
Purchased by the
Unification Church in 1972 for $850,000, the large downpayment of
$294,000 was paid for primarily by the members through the
'Belvedere Project': "[Premier Unification Church theologian
Young Oon
Kim] noted, 'For seven weeks nearly every member in our
[Unification Church] Family, in every state, abandoned all other
activities to sell candles.' There was total
mobilization."<ref>
A History Of
The Unification Church In America, 1959–74: Emergence of a National
Movement. Dr. Mickler continues: "[U.S. Unification Church
President] Farley Jones enthused 'This is the greatest thing we've
ever done because it is our first national project for a unitary
goal.' Similar sentiments were voiced by a candle-seller who
asserted, 'When it's over, we'll know that every American has paid
for Belvedere. . . and we'll know that we've paid for it with
everything we've got.'"</ref>
In addition to the
residential mansion, there are several other buildings on the
property. The largest is a carriage house, the main building for
"international training" (lecture workshops for members of up to
100 days) in the 1970s, with bunk beds in rooms upstairs housing
participants. The garage area was converted to a large meeting room
where lectures took place. Members sat on blankets spread out on
the cement floor, as they have for Sunday services from that time
until the present. At Sunday services, Rev. Moon, his sons
Hyo Jin Moon
and
Hyun Jin
Moon, and others have spoken to crowds that typically spilled
out into folding chairs set up in the driveway, typically for
several hours, and occasionally from 6:00 a.m. into the afternoon.
Since the early 1970s this has been the primary place from which
Rev. Moon gave speeches to the members.
For much of the 1970s,
Rev. Moon and followers would walk silently from the carriage house
after his speech to the "holy rock" (at the highest point on the
grounds other than the mansion). Rev Moon, or he and his wife
Hakja Han Moon,
would stand on the rock with members gathered closely around,
standing on the lawn with heads bowed. Rev Moon prayed in Korean,
and afterward all those present prayed aloud in unison; both
segments of the prayer were for longer periods than are typical in
non-Unificationist church services.
On church holidays for most
of the 1970s, speeches at the carriage house (or from a temporary
stage on the lawn) and prayers at the holy rock were followed by
celebrations on the lawn, which included a Korean meal and events
such as sports competitions between groups within the church.
References
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