By Ryan Bachman

By the end of the 19^th century, the arrival of warm temperatures in Norfolk signaled the coming of “The Summer People”. These part-time residents regularly arrived via train as the mountain laurel bloomed and the days became longer. The majority of Norfolk’s summertime residents came from New York City in search of cooler temperatures and fresh air that the metropolis could not offer.

Although the ranks of “The Summer People” included individuals renowned for their skills as businesspeople, professors or medical doctors, perhaps none were as internationally recognized as the inventor, Dr. Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, whose Norfolk estate represented the realization of his American dream while preserving the lasting affection he felt for his Serbian roots.

Mihajlo Pupin was born on October 9, 1858 in the Serbian village of Idvor, an agricultural community. He spent his youth tending the village oxen that performed much of the fieldwork. As a child, his mother urged him to focus on his education and Pupin was soon recognized as a gifted student. He later transferred from his village school to a larger institution nearby. It was there that he first learned about American citizens like Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln and developed a deep interest in the United States.

Eventually, Pupin was sent to study in Prague, but he had to drop out of school a year later due to financial difficulties following the death of his father. The 15-year-old made the bold decision to sell most of his personal belongings and immigrate to the land of his self-made idols, Franklin and Lincoln. Pupin arrived in New York Harbor in March 1874 after a stormy two-week trip across the Atlantic. He suddenly found himself alone in a new city with only a few coins in his pocket—a situation that ironically resembled Benjamin Franklin’s arrival in Philadelphia 150 years earlier.

The sight of towering buildings and hurried activity on the streets of New York excited the young immigrant, but also made him homesick for the pastures and farmland of Idvor. Pupin later recalled that his first views of the city inspired his dream of one day owning his own farm. He spent his first several years in the United States working as a laborer and stubbornly resuming his education that had been interrupted in Prague by teaching himself English, American history, Greek and Latin.

In 1879, five years after arriving in the United States, Pupin passed his entrance exams and was accepted into Columbia University. While at Columbia, he studied physics and engineering and graduated with honors in 1883, one day after becoming an American citizen. He returned to Europe for more studies at Cambridge University, and ultimately earned his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin in 1889.

Pupin was then offered a teaching position at Columbia, where he remained for the rest of his academic career. It was during his time there that he worked on various inventions related to x-ray, sonar and telecommunication technology. Unfortunately, his experiments with radiation left his immune system weakened, and he contracted pneumonia in 1896. While Pupin survived, his wife of eight years, Sarah Katherine Jackson, caught pneumonia while caring for her husband and died. Physically weakened, and suffering from a nervous breakdown following his wife’s death, Pupin visited a friend’s home in Norfolk that summer in hopes of recuperation.

That friend was Dr. Frederic Dennis, who rented the old parsonage on Village Green to Pupin. In what could perhaps be considered an early example of equine therapy, Dennis gave his friend a pair of chestnut cobs to take care of during his time of recovery. Dennis’ treatment succeeded in both easing his friend’s depression, and reawakening Pupin’s dream of owning his own farm.

In 1897, Pupin purchased the tract of land along Westside Road and set to work on his new summer home. The original structure, the Knolls, was designed by the New York-based architecture firm Hill and Turner, and was completed in 1898. It blended contemporary American styles with Serbian architecture, and was accessed by a serpentine road featured in many postcards at the time.

In 1905, Pupin expanded his estate and built the impressive stone structures on the other side of the road from the Knolls that still stand today. He called his estate Hemlock Farm, fulfilling the goal he set for himself when first entering New York Harbor, and providing him with a tangible reminder of his childhood homeland. He was able to make the many additions to his farm after AT&T purchased several of his patents (that improved telephone reception) for $455,000 in 1900.

While he was technically a part-time resident, Pupin embraced his new life in Norfolk, which he called his “real American home.” Although his time in the community got off to a somewhat rocky start—he was sued by Isabella and Mary Eldridge after his workers accidentally trespassed on their land in 1898—Pupin strove to become an involved citizen of the town. He ran for local office in 1906 and regularly attended the annual town meeting.

The decades Pupin spent in Norfolk also included some of the biggest accomplishments of his career: he was awarded the Edison Medal in 1920, and his autobiography won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924. Pupin passed away on March 12, 1935 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Photo of Mihaljo (Michael) Pupin courtesy of Norfolk Historical Society.