17. Marjorie learned it was nearly impossible to give Mar a Lago away
In the early 1960s, Marjorie prepared her first plan for the disposition of her Palm Beach estate. She hit upon the idea to give the property to the state of Florida, for development as an institute for scholars of the arts. Detailed plans were developed, bound in red leather, a copy of which exists in her personal papers, lodged at the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Florida officials studied the proposal, as well as the estate, and declined the offer. The high maintenance costs for the property, then nearly forty years old, prevented them from accepting the offer. While other Palm Beach estates continued to vanish, Marjorie refused to accept such a fate for Mar a Lago. She began to consider alternatives.
A similar plan was developed for the disposal of Camp Topridge, in the Adirondack Mountains. The camp offered a considerable collection of native American artifacts, a lodge, and over sixty individual cabins and buildings. Though it presented potential as a state park, New York found its maintenance costs prohibitive when Post bequeathed the facility to the state in her will. A small portion of the camp’s grounds were transferred to the Adirondack Park Preserve, and the rest was offered for sale to a private owner. It has passed through several owners since, and remains in private hands, though listed on the National Registry of Historic Places since the mid-1980s.