the view south from Olana, Hudson, NY
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The POD beckoned - and we decided to explore the Hudson River Valley for a bit.
Great timing! The roads were still pretty empty of the summer-to-be traffic and the weather was turning in our favor.
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We started with an overnight in Stockbridge, MA visiting our dear friend, David.
Stockbridge is everything that is New England; the rolling countryside, the quiet beauty, the farms, the manicured gardens ..... We love visiting the area and being surrounded by so many colors of green.
We had the perfect summer evening - beginning in David's garden for cocktails, then a quiet dinner at the tavern in The Red Lion Inn - one of the few inns in New England that has been operating since the late 1700's - and then back to the cottage for a night cap.......
gabbing until midnight.
Perfectly delightful!
David in the garden
Stockbridge, MA
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We had reserved a campground at Mills-Norrie State Park in Staatsburg, NY which looked to be in the middle of all the towns and sites we wanted to explore. The park was great - quiet this time of year and located high up along the banks of the Hudson (althou the surround of trees afforded no view). There were a few hiking trails that did get us down to the river - but the focus for this trip was to immerse ourselves in some history - with a bit of culture thrown in. -And not just the culture we found in the AMAZING sheep's milk yogurt at the
Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.!
A serendipitous stop on the way to Hudson, NY this cheese and yogurt stop was filled with delicious treats! Albeit, there were no sheep in residence........ a big disappointment at first but once we learned that the sheep had been moved to a better, more relaxing, venue I accepted it and happily ate the yogurt. Seems that sheep, unlike cows and goats, need to be VERY, VERY relaxed in order to milk them. Which is why sheep milking is not a huge thing in this country.
a hike down to the Hudson River, the Old Chatham Sheepherding Co,
a walk around Hudson, NY, and the POD at camp.
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Ultimately our major goal was Hyde Park and everything FDR. Having watched the Ken Burns's documentary on the Roosevelts this past winter we were hooked. Needed to feel the energy of our greatest leaders, Franklin and Eleanor - who individually and collectively redefined the American way of life - for the better. Our visit to the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt home, the
Presidential Library,
Top Cottage and
Val-Kill took all day. A extremely full day filled with history and insight.
Hats off to our National Park tour guides!! - they were terrific at each site! Cannot say enough about them and their command of the history as well as the nuance of the people and times.
Engaging and enlightening.
To me the most insightful thing was to see how the Roosevelt's actually lived. Springwood, the childhood home, was, to begin with, a large wooden cottage. An expansion/renovation was started in 1915 as FDR's political career was taking off and his family was growing larger. Yet, althou the house practically doubled in size and the exterior was transformed to follow the prevailing Colonial Revival style of the period - it still remained a "family" home on the inside.
It was definitely not lavish.
Top Cottage, FDR's private retreat, is a small Dutch Colonial stone cottage.
Simple, clean, easy - set high on a hill - with a big open slab of a porch. One can easily imagine gazing off into the woods below for quiet reflection and guidance.
I tried to imagine Winston Churchill sand FDR sitting here on the porch discussing the atomic bomb!
Val-Kill, Eleanor's private refuge, was also as dear a place.
Surrounded by a pond, stream, and simple gardens this small wooden home felt like a camp. A place where one is able to grow into their own skin.
“Val-Kill is where I used to find myself and grow. At Val-Kill I emerged as an individual.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
And the Presidential Library..... the amount of first hand documents on view was what blew me away! And to actually walk through the "list" of crisis that Roosevelt had on his plate just sets one's head spinning!!!!
Huge economic depression.
Unemployment.
Banking fiascos.
Bad farming practices + drought = Dust Bowl. (didn't see that coming...)
and then....
WWII
and having to conduct 2 distinctly separate wars on different sides of the world.
Imagine any one of our "leaders" of today managing that!
Uggh - I rant.
sorry.
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So back to the fun.......
Tim enjoying the view from the Vanderbilt "cottage"
Hyde park, NY
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The rest of our days were spent visiting other historic sites:
The Hyde park Vanderbilts were actually much less "showy" than the Newport, RI side of the family - althou this "cottage on the Hudson" was pretty spectacular.
one of the gardens at the Vanderbilt Estate
Hyde Park, NY
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The (incredibly beautiful) Turkish influenced home of the painter Frederick Church. The home is set at the top of the 250 acre property that Church landscaped to compose a sense of space and wonder - just like his paintings.
Olana
Hudson, NY
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the only actual floral garden at Olana
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The studio and residence of Thomas Cole,
considered the father of the Hudson River School of Art
Currently on view at both Olana and Cedar Grove is a co-hosted exhibition of
contemporary art called
28 contemporary American artists set among the work of Cole and Church. Some of these artists were influenced by the Hudson River School and all aim to open the dialogue about what is "American" art.
The Richard Fisher Center for the Performing Arts
at Bard College
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A spur of the moment cultural event was to attend an almost chamber music version of "Oklahoma" being done at Bard College as part of their Summerscape series.
It was very interesting conceptually and musically the performers (4 women and 6 men) were terrific and we loved the "orchestra" of accordion, banjo, bass, guitar and pedal steel guitar!..... but ultimately the production failed.
sorry.
The rest of our time spent exploring roadside stands for fresh veggies, fruit and other interesting cheeses...... oh YUM!!
Cherries!!!!
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and, of course, delicious things to drink!!!
Okay ... we did not stumble upon this cool distillery. I actually did a bit of homework and we had to drive approximately an hour out of our way - but it was so well worth the efforts!
Orange County Distillery
OCD
Goshen, NY
These 2 young guys, one of whom owns the farm from which they get all their grains/products etc, started this small enterprise just a year ago and literally distill into 5 gal water bottles. Their product sells out as soon as it is bottled with many high end restaurants buying it up! They grow all the product that they use in their spirits and the vodka is distilled from sugar beets.
I LOVE the American spirit!
inside the distillery
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