The two combined properties, with input from several notable architects, illustrate the development of estates on the North Shore of Long Island over a period of nearly a century.

Fifteen years after Bryant's death, in 1893, Lloyd Bryce bought the largely undeveloped inland portion of the estate and hired Ogden Codman, Jr. to design a mansion for it.

In 1919, the dying Henry Clay Frick purchased the estate for his son Childs, who, after renovating it and expanding it, lived there with his family until his 1965 death.

[1] Cedarmere is located behind a high stone wall on a 7-acre (2.8 ha) parcel along Bryant Ave., Roslyn Harbor, with two small ponds and a landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.

The drive up, after passing a hipped-roofed brick Neoclassical gatehouse to what is now the museum takes visitors through some of the pastorally landscaped 165 acres (66 ha)[2] that make up the center of Roslyn Harbor.

On the east facade a series of round-arched French doors give access to the garden, topped by a balustraded balcony.

A narrow road leads to the Jerusha Dewey Cottage, originally built by Bryant for a friend of his and later used as a guest house, after extensive renovation by the Fricks.

[3] Bryant bought a small house first built by Joseph Moulton in 1843 with the intent of establishing a retreat for himself from his job in the city as editor of the New York Evening Post, where he could contemplate nature and write his poetry.

At Cedarmere, as he later named the property, he received not only Vaux and his sometime collaborator Frederick Law Olmsted, but other cultural notables of the era such as painter Thomas Cole, James Fenimore Cooper and actor Edwin Booth.

The Fricks hired Charles Allom to modify the house for their use when they moved in 1919, renaming it Clayton, but Codman's design remains largely unchanged.

[5] The Mill underwent major restoration in 2013, under the supervision of the Roslyn Landmark Society, with funding from the Gerry Charitable Trust.

[6] A grant from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund was used by Nassau County for major renovations and painting of the exterior of the House in Fall, 2013.

[6] Visitors to Clayton must pay an entrance fee as well as parking; the museum is open every day except Mondays and holidays year-round.