WHO IS THE COUNTESS LIVING IN THE PORT OF MISSING MEN?

On the edge of Scallop Pond in Southampton, an 85-year-old noble holds court in a hunting lodge dating to the Jazz Age that she is determined to protect.

- Wendy Goodman

THE GREAT ROOM Countess Wiltraud von Salm-Hoogstraeten is surrounded by décor dating to the early 20th century save for Ikea rugs layered over hooked rugs for protection. The two-story home was built by the son of a Standard Oil founder.

WORTH OF THE highway in Southampton, a 600-acre plot of land has been owned by the same family since the early 1920s. Here, overlooking Scallop Pond, is a hunting lodge built by Colonel Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr., the son of Henry Huttleston Rogers, one of the founders of Standard Oil.A mile-long gravel road bordered by linden trees leads to a house that at first glance underwhelms, giving no clue to its ornate historic interiors. The owner is the 85-year-old Countess Wiltraud von Salm-Hoogstraeten, whose late husband, Peter, was the son of the heiress Millicent Rogers. “He was terrified of getting married. His mother was all over the place, collecting, getting married three times over,” says Salm. After a seven-year courtship, she and Peter got married in 1969, and they committed to the home's long-term preservation.

THE LIVING ROOM The original interiors were done by Eleanor Brown of the patrician decorating firm McMillen. On the five-foot-tall mantle is a display of miniature soldiers representing the regiment of Salm's grandfather, Count Engelbert von Westerholt und Geyesenberg.

“That was Peter's idea of perfection,” Salm says. “He did not like change.”