Gardens and Art of the Historic Hudson Highlands

the United States that is rich in horticultural tradition as well as beautiful landscapes of historical significance, distinctions that will be complemented by amazing art, architecture, and cuisine.<br><br> Stephanie Jutila, education programs manager for the American Horticultural Society, will join Katy to host this tour. Accommodations for the tour will be at The Thayer Hotel, a historic landmark at West Point with spectacular views of the Hudson River. Wednesday, October 14 (D) Upon arrival at The Thayer Hotel, guests will be greeted by Katy Moss Warner and Stephanie Jutila.<br><br> For those who wish to arrive early in the day, it is possible to join a 90-minute guided tour of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point or visit the West Point Museum. Our group will assemble in the evening for cocktails and dinner at the hotel.<br><br> After din- ner, Katy and local historian Chip Marks will give a presentation on the cGardens and Art of the Historic Hudson Highlands. d Thursday, October 15 (B,L) After breakfast at the hotel, we will board the West Point launch to visit Constitution Island, a strategic Revolutionary War fortification as well as the restored 19th-century home and garden of two sisters who claimed their place in history both as writers and gardeners. Susan Warner wrote the 1850 American bestseller The Wide Wide World while Anna Warner wrote the words for the hymn, cJesus Loves Me d and penned Gardening By Myself , published in 1872. This book subsequently guided the restoration of the Constitution Island garden that reflects the sisters 9 life- long interest in flowers and plants.<br><br> The next visit of the morning will be to Boscobel, the beautifully restored home of States Morris Dyckman. The house, which dates from the early 1800s, is considered one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture of the Federal period. Magnificently situated upon a bluff overlooking the east side of the Hudson, the view from the front lawn of Boscobel is spectacular, particularly in October.<br><br> The lovely grounds include many of the garden features that might have surrounded such a historic home, including grand old sugar maple trees, a formal rose gar- den, orangery, herb garden, apple orchard, springhouse, pond, and wood- land trail. We will be greeted at Boscobel by Geoffrey Platt, the executive director, who will introduce us to this historic gem. The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, one of the most respected culinary colleges in the world, will be the setting for lunch.<br><br> We AHS President Emeritus Katy Moss Warner will be your host. Itinerary Highlights Gardens and Art of the Historic Hudson Highlands will dine at Escoffier, the exceptional French restaurant where students prepare and serve the food under the direction of Executive Chef Dominick Cerrone. In the afternoon, we will visit two historic treasures that are managed by the National Park Service: Eleanor Roosevelt 9s Val-Kill and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 9s lifelong home, Springwood.<br><br> Located on 300 acres of the original, much larger, Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, each of these homes offers fascinating glimpses into American history. Val-Kill in particular is known for its extensive gardens. We will enjoy evening cocktails in the gardens at Bellefield, an elegant 18th-century house.<br><br> Bellefield 9s garden was designed by Beatrix Farrand, the legendary early 20th-century American garden designer known for her carefully planned mixed perennial borders. This historic garden 4lovingly and carefully restored by the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association in 1994 4is a stunning display of perfectly composed bor- ders, set off by vine-covered walls and clipped hemlock hedges. Anne Symmes, the garden designer who led the restoration will meet with us and share her experiences with this special garden.<br><br> As the sun sets, we will travel south on the east side of the Hudson River to the charming village of Cold Spring with its alluring architecture and river front park. We will be met here by Nat Prentice, longtime res- ident of this area and president of the Chamber of Commerce. He has arranged for many shops and restaurants to be open especially for our group.<br><br> Shopping, strolling, and dining will be on your own this evening. Friday, October 16 (B,L,D) Bright and early, we will head north to the town of Hudson for a visit to Loomis Creek Nursery, a specialty nursery that stocks a distinctive collec- tion of perennials and other exceptional garden plants. Owner Bob Hyland is a knowledgeable plantsman, talented designer, and public gar- den educator.<br><br> He will be our host and has invited us to enjoy the nurs- ery as well as his newly planted demonstration garden. Our next stop, Olana, is the beloved Persian-styled home of Frederick Edwin Church (1826-1900), one of America 9s most important artists and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Designed by Calvert Vaux, the home contains furniture, tapestries, rugs, bronzes, paintings, and sculptures Church collected in his travels.<br><br> Built high on a hill with sweeping vistas of the Catskill Mountains, the Hudson River, and the Taconic Hills, Olana 9s landscape was designed by Church in the same manner that he constructed his landscape paintings 4with an eye to composition, balance, and fidelity to nature. We have a very special lunch planned for today. In Cold Spring, the historic Glynwood Farm is now a not-for-profit organization with a com- mitment to organic farming, locally grown food, and rural land conser- vation.<br><br> We have been invited by President Judy LaBelle to dine in the original farm house. Our lunch will feature locally produced meat, veg- etables, cheese, and fruit. Afterwards, Ken Kleinpeter, director of the farm, will give us a tour of the barns, pastures, and orchards.<br><br> After lunch, we will travel cnext door d to Stonecrop Gardens, consid- ered one of the most beautiful and enchanting gardens in America. Originally the home of Anne and Frank Cabot, Stonecrop became a 12- acre public garden in 1992. The display gardens feature woodland and water gardens, a strikingly beautiful conservatory overlooking a lovely naturalistic pond, a grass garden, rock gardens, and an enclosed English- style flower garden.<br><br> An alpine house and pit house offer unique environ- ments for an extensive collection of alpine plants. We will dine this evening at the Valley, an exceptional restaurant in Garrison that is recognized for its seasonal American farm-to-table cui- sine. Featured in Bon Appétit and Town & Country , the Valley has received numerous accolades.<br><br> We will be met here by Chip Allemann, general manager of The Garrison and the Highlands Country Clubs, which include the Valley and Tavern restaurants. Chip, who is also chair of the board of Glynwood Farm, is passionate about locally grown food and dedicated to exceptional cuisine and outstanding service. Saturday, October 17 (B,L,D) This morning we will visit Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, a 500- acre sculpture park nestled in the mountains on the west side of the Hudson River.<br><br> Here, bold contemporary abstract sculpture is dramatical- ly displayed against the beautiful backdrop of the Hudson Highlands. We have been invited to tour the art center before it opens to the public for the day. We will stroll through the smaller sculptures of David Smith, Louise Nevelson, George Rickey, and others as we are introduced to this unique outdoor museum.<br><br> We then will board a tram to view more than 80 exceptional works by artists such as Calder, Di Suvero, Serra, Noguchi, Goldsworthy, and the newest installation, cWavefield d by the Vietnam FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO MAKE RESERVATIONS, CONTACT: American Horticultural Society Travel Study Program 7931 East Boulevard Drive Alexandria, Virginia 22308-1300 E-mail: education@ahs.org www.ahs.org (800)777-7931 x 132 Veterans Memorial artist Maya Lin. We will have the special opportuni- ty to meet AHS award-winning landscape architect Darrel Morrison who will share the work he has been doing at Storm King to transform giant lawns into great sweeps of ornamental grasses. We will cross the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and travel south on the east side of the River to Manitoga, the modernist home and woodland garden of America 9s first industrial designer, Russel Wright.<br><br> Here on 75 acres of land scarred by years of granite mining, Wright carefully observed the magic of the woodland. Using his designer 9s eye, he orchestrated experiences through the woodland with a series of paths so beautifully designed one hardly realizes the discoveries were intention- al. We will also meet Kitty McCullough, executive director of Manitoga.<br><br> Lunch today will be at the Tavern restaurant in Garrison. The New York Times recently declared the cuisine cFancy Country d and wrote ceating at the Tavern brings uncommon pleasure, like spying the rare wood duck on a pond where only mallards have been. d Very close by Manitoga is a very different woodland garden, the mod- ern and very personal creation of New York City attorney, Fred Rich. Fred is the chair of Scenic Hudson and has offered extraordinary leadership to environmental and land conservation efforts in the Hudson Valley.<br><br> Fred has invited us to visit his garden, Crescent Reach, a lovely woodland gar- den with exquisitely placed Asian garden features that encourage closer inspection and greater appreciation of the natural environment. We will complete our day in Garrison at the former estate of railroad magnate Samuel Sloan and his wife Kitty Colt Sloan. First we will visit the historic mansion, Lisburne Grange, which was built in 1862 and has been Katy 9s family home since 1955.<br><br> Katy 9s mother Kathryn Moss and her brother Hugh Moss will be there to greet us. Cocktails will be served in the formal Italianate garden, a collaboration in design between Kitty Colt Sloan, past president of the Garden Club of America, and Fletcher Steele, one of America 9s great landscape architects. The former horse and cow barns of the Sloan estate have been transformed into a beauti- ful home, which is now owned by JoAnn and Kirby Brown.<br><br> JoAnn is pres- ident of the Philipstown Garden Club. She and Kirby have invited us to walk over, a cocktail in hand, and visit their garden. As a special finale to our adventure in the Hudson Highlands, we will dine in the drawing room at Lisburne Grange.<br><br> Dinner will be prepared by Dan Lopez, senior executive chef at the United Nations and great friend to the Moss family. We will have a fine selection of organic wines from the Mendocino Wine Company, the first carbon-neutral winery in America. And we will be joined by many of the new friends you met dur- ing this tour.<br><br> Sunday, October 18 (B) For those who would like another outing or two before departing the beauty and grandeur of the Hudson Highlands, you may want to consid- er the following options. " St. Joseph 9s Catholic Church in Garrison 3 mass at 10:15 a.m.<br><br> " St. Philips Episcopal Church in Garrison 3 service at 10:30a.m. " Bear Mountain Zoo 3 one of the first regional zoos in the country " Brotherhood Winery 3 America 9s oldest winery in Washingtonville " DIA Beacon 3 outstanding collection of contemporary installation art; originally a Nabisco box factory on the Hudson River in Beacon " Hudson Highlands Nature Museum 3 two locations include Outdoor Discovery Center and Wildlife Education Center " Innisfree, a Chinese inspired American garden in Millbrook " Jane Colden Native Plant Sanctuary 3 1754 fieldstone manor; named for the first female botanist in North America Photo by Steve Turner, Design, courtesy of Charles Davey<br><br>

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