Wright and his wife Mary acquired the property in 1942. The had been devastated by previous logging and quarrying, common in the Hudson Highlands in the early 20th century. The couple designed the property with sustainability in mind, a concept not widely applied at the time. In his reclamation efforts, Wright redirected a mountain stream and designed a multi-level waterfall to transform an abandoned quarry pit into a swimming pond. In addition to trees, streams, boulders, moss and native plants, his woodland landscape design incorporated stone steps, terraces and bridges.