Staatsburg, formerly know as the Mills Mansion, is an elegant example of the great estates built by America's financial and industrial leaders during the Gilded Age. This period, also known as the American Renaissance, lasted approximately from 1876 to 1917, and was marked by America's rapid economic growth and emergence as a world power.

The 1,600 acre estate was originally purchased in 1792 by Morgan Lewis, Quartermaster General of the Northern Continental Army during the American Revolution, later becoming the 3rd Governor of New York. His great-granddaughter, Ruth Livingston, heir to the estate, married Ogden Mills, noted financier and philanthropist, heir to a family fortune based on investments in banks and railroads in California during the Gold Rush.

In 1895, Ruth and Ogden Mills commissioned the prestigious firm of McKim, Mead and White to remodel and enlarge the existing home in Staatsburg. In 1896 the home was transformed into a Beaux Arts mansion of 65 rooms. Its exterior was embellished with balustrades, pilasters, floral swags and a massive portico. The rooms were furnished with elaborately carved and gilded furniture, fine oriental rugs, silk fabrics and a collection of art objects from Europe, ancient Greece and the Far East. Pride in family heritage was demonstrated in the prominent display of portraits of Mrs. Mills's ancestors. It is this combination of a taste for European grandeur with a reverence for American heritage that makes Mills Mansion a quintessential American Renaissance residence.

Mills Mansion is a New York State Historic Site, now located within the boundaries of the Mills-Norris State Park. Guided tours of the mansion are available from mid-April through Labor Day on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10am till 5pm and on Sundays from Noon till 5pm. The Mills-Norris State Park is open daily.