peapack

The farm and house were sold by Caroline and has since been torn down. Pictured above is a 1980/90s image of the house. See the house's dining room pictures below (windows shown above on right)

View of Peapack around time of Jackie's purchase. House was painted yellow with white trim.

You can see the rectangular outline of the pool to the right of the house in line with the roof. The "deep" end of the pool is directly above that tree that appears white on the front lawn to the right of the house. This really shows how small the pool was. I doubt it was more than 20' x 12'.

That door at the front of the house led to the entrance hall, but really wasn't used. You can see there really wasn't a path leading to that entrance - just a lawn and a stoop.

The functional entrance was in that part of the house with the flat roof on the left side near the circular parking area. That dark area in the middle of the flat roofed area led to a mud-room/laundry room where there were racks that held riding boots and riding caps and a kitchen was in the front of the house. Just inside the house from that mud room was a sitting area/den that had a glass coffee table with picture books on it.

Jackie's bedroom was fairly large. It was the room upstairs with the window in the dormer on the right. The kid's rooms were to the left upstairs.

The window below the dormer was the dining room. The living room was at the back of the house behind the dining room. You can see the chimney for that living room fireplace at the back of the house. The dining room (on the side nearest the entry foyer) had some French Provincial cabinets and tables that were from the late 1700's. The wood was cracked in some places. It was painted a light yellow rather than stained. Jackie clearly decided to not "restore" these pieces, but to keep them in their original condition

There were no stables on Jackies own property. I believe she boarded her horses nearby (possibly at the "Busch family next door").

The trout stream was just off the dirt/gravel driveway about 75 yards on the right side of the picture in a heavily wooded area. Sorry, I don't remember if the road had a name."

From Chirs Dans: "Really. No kidding. This is me (Chris Dans) and Paula Cunha sitting beside the remarkably austere swimming pool at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' getaway in Peapack, NJ. This was shot in the summer of 1980. My Portuguese Girlfriend and her parents were close friends

with Celestino Esteves, the caretaker of the estate. He and his family lived in a

small house of their own on the property, but when we visited we were able to use

all the facilities. This included sitting in her living room with 200 year old painted

french furniture and reading her numerous coffee table books. The house and decor

The austerity is evidenced in the picture by the chicken wire fence surrounding the

very small pool.

I don't remember seeing any pictures of JFK or Ari Onassis on display, but there

From Chris Dans: Taken in the Summer of 1979 or 1980 (with a Vivitar 110 Camera) this picture shows a girl named Paula and Elisabeth Esteves (the Caretaker's Daughter) sitting by the shallow end (it was all shallow ) of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's swimming pool. The house was in Peapack, NJ right in the heart of horse country. Obviously, this pool was just a place to cool off. It was really tiny and there were no fancy amenities. The chicken wire with steel posts required you to hop over it to gain access. The narrow patio surrounding it did not invite any glamorous people to lounge around it (there were a few ordinary steel tube and plastic strip chaise lounges on the other side of the pool from where the girls are sitting). The nicer outdoor furniture was on the patio on the nearer side of the house that either was off the Dining Room and Living Room.

Both of these girls are now in their late 30's and mid 40's now. Elisabeth was about 6 years old at the time and had no sense of who Jackie was. She had full run of the place and interacted regularly with the family. She had a Dog (a mutt) that was the calmest pet imaginable and was totally devoted to the child. Since the dog wandered freely around the property I find it hard to believe it was not also a weekend pet for Jackie and her family whenever they were in residence.

Chris Dans and friend in the Peapack Living Room 1980. Notice the pull down movie screen above the fireplace mirror (Chris Dans photo)

From Chris Dans: "Jackie's Peapack next door neighbors were members of the Budweiser Brewing (Busch) family and they, together with Jackie, used to stock this stream with tons of Trout. Tino, her caretaker used to go down there and catch most of the fish and throw them in his freezer shortly after they were stocked. On that occasion, my brother and I had one of the best day's fishing ever due to an extremely well stocked river that very few people ever fished in."

"The girl in the living room picture (above) and I went to Drew University in nearby Madison, NJ. She and her parents were very close friends with Celestino (Tino) Esteves (Jackies' Caretaker at Peapack). They were all Portuguese and lived in the tight-knit community in the Ironbound section of Newark, NJ. Tino and his family had a small house on Jackies property, but still owned a house in Newark."