America's Rhine
 VSA Fall 2005 Study Tour
of
the Mid Hudson Valley
Friday to Sunday, October 14 to 16, 2005
 
See brochure

The Victorian Society in America’s Fall 2005 study tour (reprised in 2006) – co-sponsored with Wilderstein Preservation – focused on the Mid-Hudson Valley.

From the time Henry Hudson sailed through the region in the early 17th century looking for a passage to China the area’s history is as fascinating and old as the history of our country.  Originally settled by the Dutch and the English, and a part of the great colonial manor system, the area saw action during the Revolutionary War. Onetime breadbasket of the nation, the Hudson River became one of the country’s biggest commercial thoroughfares after the establishment of the Erie Canal.   The villages and towns along the banks prospered during the industrial revolution.  The poetic combination of river, hills, and mountains inspired generations of writers, landscape designers and artists, greatly influencing the American Romantic movement of the nineteenth century and saw the Hudson River School become America’s first native artistic movement.  Coveted for its scenic beauty, America’s great families lined the Hudson with their country retreats during the Gilded Age.  The area was and still is known as “America’s Rhine”.

Here is the itinerary:

Study tour participants will be staying at the Delamater House Inn, in Rhinebeck, New York, a town steeped in history and charm, and center of the Great Estates region of the  Hudson Valley.  The centerpiece of the inn is the Delamater House, a perfect example of an A.J. Davis Carpenter Gothic Cottage.  The inn is part of the Beekman Arms complex, one of America's oldest continuously operating inns.  The complex is located in the heart of the village, convenient to its many shops, restaurants and other sights.

FRIDAY

The study tour will begin at the Wilderstein Historic site, the co-sponsor of the tour.   Wilderstein is a Queen Anne mansion designed by Arnout Cannon and decorated by Joseph Burr Tiffany.  The house overlooks the Hudson River on grounds landscaped by Calvert Vaux.  Lived in by only three generations of the Suckley family, who were related socially or by blood to many of New York’s important families, the site is remarkable in that the house, grounds, interiors and family collections are all intact.
 
We will begin with a welcoming reception at Wilderstein, with house tours, cocktails and hors d’oeuvre on the verandah as well as opening remarks giving an overview of the area.  Participants will have the opportunity to explore the seldom seen upper floors of the mansion and admire the view of the Hudson from Wilderstein’s 5-storey tower.
 
SATURDAY MORNING

Following breakfast at the Delamater house, the tour will head north.  Winding along the River Road, the group will pass the gatehouses, chapels, orchards and fields of the great estates built and lived in by families such as the Astors, Livingstons, Delanos and Delafields.   Some are now institutions, but remarkably many of these estates are intact and remain in private hands today.


                  

The first stop Saturday will be Olana, south of the city of Hudson. Olana, Frederick Church’s Moorish fantasy home, is set high on a hill overlooking a panoramic view of the Hudson, the Catskill Mountains and beyond.  This Victorian fantasy sits on hundreds of landscaped acres combining Church’s vision and the famous Olmstead brothers’ expertise.  Frederick Church often spoke of the home and its views as one of his greatest artistic achievements.  A box lunch will be provided on the grounds.  

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Saturday afternoon will bring the group to Hudson, New York, founded by whalers from Nantucket. Hudson was once one of America’s busiest whaling ports, its location 100 miles inland from the ocean protecting it from marauding British warships. This formerly down-and-out city is experiencing a renaissance, with people restoring its trove of houses representing every major architectural style of the nineteenth century.

The group will visit the Hudson Opera House, a building built in 1855 as the first City Hall for Hudson. Frederic Church and Sanford Gifford showed their paintings here, and Henry Ward Beecher gave a rousing abolitionist lecture. Around 1880 this building came to be known as the Hudson Opera House. The first floor held various civic offices and the auditorium upstairs was used for everything from traveling lecture presentations and musical and theatrical events to local functions like dances, cotillions, poultry shows and graduations. According to the League of Historic American Theatres, the Hudson Opera House is one of the oldest surviving theatres in America.

After City Hall moved out in 1962 the building sat vacant for years. When it was threatened with further decay and eventual demolition, local citizens banded together to save the building. In 1992, Hudson Opera House, Inc. was formed as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to restoration of the building. Since that time the HOH has presented extensive, multi-cultural programming, and is now in the planning phase for completion of the entire restoration project.  After a talk about Hudson and the Opera house, participants will have an opportunity to explore Warren Street, with its many antique shops, or take a walking tour of one of Hudson’s historic neighborhoods.

Saturday’s tour will end in Kingston, New York, New York State’s first capital.  The city contains many old stone colonial-era homes and the Senate House in its historic Stockade district.  The tour will focus on the Victorian homes of the Rondout and Chestnut Street. The highlight of the tour will be the visit to the private home of the well-known contemporary artist, Hunt Slonem.  This thirty-room Second Empire house, where President McKinley was entertained, is a treasure trove of the artist’s collections of nineteenth century furniture, textiles, and decorative arts, all integrated with the artist’s modern artwork. Dinner will be served in the recently restored Carriage House.
 
SUNDAY

Following breakfast on Sunday morning the tour will head south to Poughkeepsie, New York, where we will first visit Locust Grove.  Overlooking the Hudson River, the 150 acre estate of Samuel F.B. Morse includes an Italianate villa designed by Alexander Jackson Davis containing extensive collections of American and European decorative and fine arts.  Three miles of carriage roads wind through the landscaped grounds, romantic gardens and shady groves.

After lunch at a local restaurant, the tour will continue north, stopping by F.C. Withers' magnificent Ruskinian Gothic State Hospital at Poughkeepsie, with landscaped grounds by Olmsted & Vaux. This National Historic Landmark property has recently been acquired by individuals who are intent on rehabilitation and reuse of the main building in part as a tourist destination hotel and in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior standards for such work.

In Staatsburgh, New York, the group will visit The Point, a stone house hidden in the woods on the Mills Mansion State Park.  The Point is one of Calvert Vaux’s earliest commissions. Taken over by New York State in the 1960s by eminent domain, the house was allowed to fall into decay and can only be viewed from the outside.  Recently an association was formed to save and restore the house to its former glory.

Rhinebeck Village Rhinebeck, New York, Rhinebeck NY, Rhinebeck, Rhinecliff New York, Dutchess County, Hudson Valley, Rhinebeck government, Rhinebeck Technology Committee, Dutchess County Fair, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Rhinebeck, RhinebeckReturning to Rhinebeck, the tour will end with a walking tour of the village, led by local historical buff and raconteur Ward Stanley.  This tour will look at Rhinebeck’s colorful history and significant architectural heritage.
 

The Victorian Society in America reserves the right to alter the schedule of events or featured participants or to cancel events should it become necessary.