Bussiness
Inside Hillwood Estate, a 26,000-square-foot mansion and home of the millionaire businesswoman who built Mar-a-Lago
Marjorie Merriweather Post was once known as America’s richest woman, with an estimated net worth of $250 million — around $1.8 billion today when adjusted for inflation.
She inherited her father’s Post cereal fortune in 1914, but Post helped build the company into the General Foods Corporation by acquiring brands like Jell-O and Maxwell House. She also served on its board of directors.
With her success as a businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist, Post built homes to match her elite status.
In 1955, she purchased Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC, and renovated it into a 36-room, 26,000-square-foot mansion with a focus on entertaining and displaying her priceless art collections.
Post only lived at Hillwood during fall and spring. She spent winters at her Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, which is now owned by former President Donald Trump, and summers at Camp Topridge in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.
Access to Mar-a-Lago remains limited due to Trump’s residence there, but Hillwood is a museum open to the public.
Take a look inside Post’s opulent home and its surrounding gardens.