oil first in Pennsylvania and then in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The 1938 New England hurricane and associated storm surge caused significant damage to the hillside facing the ocean. In order to stabilize the badly eroded hillside, George Grant Snowden Jr. had thousands of granite boulders put in place, which remain there to this day. The property was sold in 1948 to Mr. William Hale Harkness, heir to the Standard Oil Company fortune. Harkness family Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness was a progenitor of the extended Harkness family. He and his step-brother, Henry Flagler, and John D. Rockefeller invested heavily in Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler, the corporate forerunner to Standard Oil. Harkness became the second-largest shareholder, which made him extremely wealthy. Harkness was a silent partner, though he served on Standard Oil's Board of Directors until his 1888 death. A half-brother of Vanderburgh Harkness, Daniel M. Harkness, was a trustee of Standard Oil and a very rich man (the equivalent of a billionaire in 2013 USD). The money was left to his son, William Lamon Harkness. William died in 1919, with $53,439,000, about 70% of which came from Standard Oil shares. In 2020 USD, the fortune would be worth $800,352,505.14. William fathered two children with Edith Hale: Louise Hale Harkness (1898–1978) who married David Sinton Ingalls, and William Hale Harkness. In 1947, William Hale married Rebekah Semple West, who was previously married to Dickson Pierce. After William Hale Harkness died in 1954, Rebekah remarried twice: first to Dr. Benjamin Harrison Kean, then to Niels H. Lauersen. Rebekah lived at Holiday House after it was sold by the Snowdens in 1948. She apparently was quite unpopular with her neighbors, doing unusual things such as cleaning her pool with champagne, and gambling with a wide ranged of guests, such as Spanish artist Salvador Dali. Rebekah used her late husband's fortune to support charitable causes, such as supporting the Joffrey Ballet. She withdrew funding when the Ballet refused to rename in her honor, and created her own dance company: Harkness Ballet, hiring most of the Joffrey Ballet's dancers. The Harkness Ballet closed in 1975. Rebekah also funded medical research. Locals today refer to the house as the Harkness House as well. Gurdon B. Wattles The Gurdon B. Wattles family bought Holiday House in 1974, renaming it as High Watch. The Wattles family remained at High Watch until 1996. Taylor Swift In 2013, American