The High Line Hotel Clement Clarke Moore, who wrote his 1823 Christmas poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," on the property. Moore also operated an apple orchard on the estate, which is where The High Line Hotel is now located. In the 1820s, Moore donated the land that contained the apple orchard to the Episcopal Church. It would become the home of the General Theological Seminary, which is still in operation at the location. The land, however, remained mostly undeveloped until 1878 when Eugene Augustus Hoffman was appointed dean. Hoffman hired architect Charles C. Haight to design a Neo Gothic-style campus based on the
A Visit from St. Nicholas family lore gives credit to their forebear rather than Moore, but there is no proof that Livingston himself ever claimed authorship, nor has any record ever been found of any printing of the poem with Livingston's name attached to it, despite more than 40 years of searches. Advocates for Livingston's authorship argue that Moore "tried at first to disavow" the poem. They also posit that Moore falsely claimed to have translated a book. Document dealer and historian Seth Kaller has challenged both claims. Kaller examined the book in question, "A Complete Treatise on Merinos and Other Sheep", as well as