
Mount Aventine changed hands several times in the early 1900’s. From 1938-1954 it served as a part time residence and hunting preserve for the Hubbard family. In 1954, Margit Sigray Bessenyey, daughter of a Hungarian count and an American heiress, purchased the property and set about acquiring other parcels which had been sold from the original tract. Ms. Bessenyey was a noted horse breeder who bred and trained horses at Mount Aventine as well as at ranches in Montana and California. The property served as a part time residence until Ms. Bessenyey’s death in 1987. A tribute to Margit Sigray Bessenyey by Ernest Szecheny provides more insight into the Countess and her life, including how she helped save a stock of Hungarian horses that were being disbanded by the U.S. Cavalry.
Additional information on the marriage of Ms. Bessenyey’s parents, Harriet Daly and Count Anton Sigray, can be found in this article from the The Salt Lake Herald-Republican dated March 27, 1910.
The State purchased the property from a developer in 1998 preserving this unique property for public use.