The Outrageous Life of Rebekah Harkness, Taylor Swift’s High-Society MuseJuly 29,

2020

Rebekah Harkness, as seen in the December 1956 issue of Vogue. Photograph by John Rawlings.

Upon her death in 1982, Rebekah Harkness was called many things in her New York
Times obituary. A philanthropist. A patron of dance and medicine. An artist (a descriptor she
bestowed upon herself). Now she has one more posthumous title: muse.

“Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train / It was sunny,” Taylor Swift croons in her new song
“The Last Great American Dynasty.” In 3 minutes 51 seconds, Swift tells the story of Harkness’s
legacy through lyrics. But why? Swift explains it briefly in a verse—Harkness once owned
Holiday House, the singer’s current Watch Hill, Rhode Island, home. However, the connection
between the two women, despite being eras apart, may go beyond mere real estate.
Rebekah Harkness in March 1965.Photo: Keystone-France / Getty Images

Let’s start from the beginning. In 1915, Rebekah West was born in St. Louis to “a rich,
emotionally frigid St. Louis family. She was brought up by a nanny who was chosen because she
had worked in an insane asylum. Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company,
ensuring she grew up comfortably. She attended finishing school at the Fermata School for Girls
in Aiken, South Carolina, whose other alums included Roosevelts and Auchinclosses. According
to Blue Blood, a book by Craig Unger, Harkness wrote in her scrapbook that at Fermata, she set
out ‘‘do everything bad.” An example of her mischievousness? Putting mineral oil in the punch at
her sister’s debutante ball. (Perhaps this is a tale that inspired the Swift lyric, “She had a
marvelous time ruining everything.”) Fittingly, she and her finishing school friends dubbed
themselves the Bitch Pack.

Harkness had three husbands. She said she married her first, photographer Dickson Pierce,
because she “had nothing else to do.” No surprise, that union ended in divorce.

She married her second husband, Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness, in 1947. Their
wedding took place at 730 Park Avenue, which was William’s apartment. In the first verse of
“The Last Great American Dynasty,” Swift sings that the ceremony “was charming, if a little
gauche / There’s only so far new money goes.”
They reportedly had a happy marriage, although “little evidence is given in support of this thesis
except that the two wrote a song together called ‘Giggling With My Feet.'”
During their seven-year marriage (William died in 1954), the couple bought a massive house on
the Rhode Island coast, which they dubbed “Holiday House.” There, according to The Day —
who interviewed her son Allen Pierce — Harkness once entertained everyone from Dalí to yogi
B.K.S. Iyengar to her pet raccoon. ”[She was surrounded by] all the fairies flying off the floor, the
blackmailing lawyers, the weirdos, the people in the trances,”

It’s here where Rebekah catapulted into high society. Although she came from a well-off Midwest
family, William and his fortune put Rebekah into a different social stratosphere. In December
1956, she even appeared in the pages of Vogue. Donning a black chiffon Mainbocher dress with a
white silk back-tied apron, she flashed a wry smile at the camera. The caption read: “A young
woman with a surprising range of interests, Mrs. Harkness is a sculptor, a musician of
professional standing (she’s a member of ASCAP), a skier (she’ll soon off to her chalet in Gstaad
with her three children for a holiday), and an active supporter of many charities.” Below her in the
spread? Babe Paley, one of Truman Capote’s swans.

Their Rhode Island estate, Holiday House, was the site of some raucous Gatsby-esque
parties: Blue Blood recalls that Harkness once filled her pool with Dom Perignon (which, oddly,
was not the only liberty she took with libations: it’s also said she put scotch in her fish tank).

After her husband passed away in 1954, Harkness poured more money into her Watch Hill
compound, installing 8 kitchens and 21 baths. She even hosted a ballet workshop there for 20
dancers from the Robert Joffrey Company (now known as the Joffrey Ballet) in 1965.

The Robert Joffrey Company summer workshop at Rebekah Harkness' Watch Hill estate in Rhode Island, July
1962. Photo: Getty Images
Being a patron of the ballet was Rebekah’s passion. In her obituary, she’s credited with supporting
the Joffrey and Jerome Robbins ballet companies. She even started a company of her own in
1964: the Harkness Ballet. But the result was disastrous. She poured money into Harkness House,
a dance studio meant to mimic the grandeur of European ballet schools, outfitting it with a marble
staircase, silk shades, and a crystal chandelier. (Her reasoning was thus: “I hope the beauty of
Harkness House will persuade some of these people that ballet need not be dingy and that by their
patronage they are contributing to the splendid and glamorous.”) Yet disagreements over artistic
direction led to the company’s disbanding in 1970. It’s estimated she spent the 2020 equivalent of
$86 million on the endeavor.

When she died in 1982, Harkness had demanded her ashes be put in a $250,000 jeweled Salvador
Dalí urn. The only problem was that the urn was too small. Reportedly, the rest of her remains
were placed in a Gristedes bag.

“Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory,” Swift says of the
inspiration behind her album, Folklore. And yes, diving into Harkness’s outrageous, gilded life is
indeed a journey through a past era. Yet it’s also impossible to avoid drawing parallels between
Swift and Harkness. Where Harkness had her Bitch Pack, Swift’s group of friends had a much-
scrutinized squad. Harkness drew glares for her parties at Holiday House, as did Swift: Who could
forget the frenzy over her celeb-studded Fourth of July bash? The question Swift would have you
ask is how much of this reputation was deserved and how much was the result of gossip or
judgmental peers. At the end of the song, she suggests a certain satisfaction regardless of the
answer: “There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen / I had a marvelous time ruining
everything.”

One correction, though, Taylor. Harkness dyed her neighbor’s cat lime green — not his
dog. Given your propensity for felines, however, we’ll allow the edit.
Holiday House now (owned by Taylor Swift).

Holiday house then (before the upgrade)