Collector Schedule of Events
Hudson Valley, New York
Oct 12-16, 2024
Washington Irving Estate
Blaze Festival
This invitation only trip for our C4C collectors will explore the beautiful and historic Hudson River Valley and will begin in Tarrytown, NY and include the following sites to date:
Saturday, Oct 12: Collectors Arrive in Tarrytown, NY
- Irving’s Legend, Outdoor performance by master storyteller Jonathan Kruk
Sunnyside, Home of Washington IrvingIrving, an American author known for his short stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) and “Rip Van Winkle (1819), lived and wrote here from 1835 until his death in 1859. Named “Sunnyside” by Irving, the estate was eventually sold to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who acquired and restored it and opened it to the public in 1947. Sunnyside is now a museum operated by Historic Hudson Valley with tours led by guides dressed in period costumes.
- Group Welcome Dinner
Castle Hotel & Spa (or TBD)
400 Benedict Avenue
Tarrytown, NY
Overnight Tarrytown
Hotel Choices:
Castle Hotel & Spa, Tarrytown House Estate, Westchester Marriott
Home of Jasper Cropsey
Lyndhurst Mansion
Sunday, Oct 13: Newington Cropsey House & Gallery of Art, Lyndhurst Mansion & Blaze
- Ever Rest, Historic Home & Studio of Jasper Cropsey (1823-1900), Hudson River School
Jasper & Maria Cropsey acquired the carpenter gothic style home in 1886. Cropsey, an architect and painter built a studio featuring an impressive, windowed cupola with north facing windows where he continued to paint for the rest of his career. The permanent collection of his works was acquired over the years by John & Barbara Newington, Jasper’s great-granddaughter.
- Newington Cropsey Gallery of Art
Completed in 1994 by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, the Gallery of Art showcases Cropsey’s paintings and provides temporary exhibition space for traveling exhibits.
- Group Lunch TBD
- Tour of Lyndhurst Mansion
Considered one of America’s finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture, the Lyndhurst mansion, designed in 1838 by Alexander Jackson Davis, was the “country house” of the wealthy and prominent Paulding, Merritt, and Gould families, successively over the period from 1842-1961. In 1961, Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand-Perigord passed away and bequeathed the property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation which was opened to the public as a museum and historic site in 1965.
- Blaze Festival, Spirits of Sleepy Hollow, Performance by master illusionists, Mark Clearview and Nick Wallace at Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, NY.
- Group Dinner
- Blaze Festival Walk-Thru Experience
Blaze Festival: The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze is a production of Historic Hudson Valley, a nonprofit educational foundation. Viewed by millions of people since its debut in 2005, this unique outdoor display of thousands of hand-carved jack o’lanterns lighting up the sky is a must-see walk-thru experience (image above).
Overnight Tarrytown
Newington-Cropsey Gallery of Art
Boscobel Home & Gardens
Monday, Oct 14: Rockefeller Estate (Kykuit), Union Church, Boscobel Gardens
- Grand Tour, Kykuit (Rockefeller Home, Art Collection & Gardens)
Home to 4 generations of the Rockefeller family, this magnificent estate was built by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., founder of Standard Oil. At that time, he was known as the richest man in America. “Kykuit” is derived from the Dutch for “lookout point” and was built 1906-1908 with subsequent remodeling. By the time of his death in 1937, John D Rockefeller, Sr. had donated $540 million to philanthropic causes. Thereafter, Kykuit would come to have an extensive art collection, initiated by Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller (wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.). Abbey was passionate about art and eventually co-founded the Museum of Modern Art.After her death, in her memory, her children commissioned Henri Matisse to create the rose window at the Union Church in Pocantico Hills in Tarrytown. It was Matisse’s last commissioned work. In the 1960’s, her son Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York, moved into Kykuit with his family. An avid art collector, Nelson converted the empty basement into a gallery of modern and contemporary art works, including works by Calder, Motherwell, Picasso, and Warhol. He also acquired and installed 120 sculptures on the estate, including works by Brancusi and Giacometti. In 1979, after Nelson’s death, Kykuit was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Rockefeller Estate Parlor
Rockefeller Estate Music Room
- Lunch at Visitor Center at Philipsburg Manor
- Union Church Tour
Historic country church with stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse commissioned by the Rockefeller family.
- Boscobel House & Gardens on Hudson River (Views to West Point)
Boasting extraordinary views and gardens on the Hudson River overlooking Constitution Marsh toward the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the Neoclassical Boscobel mansion houses one of the finest collections of decorative arts, including furniture from the Federal period.
- Group Dinner at Willow Restaurant at Mirbeau Inn
Overnight Mirbeau Inn & Spa, Rhinebeck, NY
Thomas Cole Studio
Thomas Cole House
Tuesday, Oct 15: Thomas Cole House & Studio, “Olana”, Frederic Church House, Culinary Institute of America
- Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, NY
Visit the historic home and studio of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School, America’s first major art movement, composed of more than 100 landscape painters working from 1825-1875. Time permitting, outdoor enthusiasts can hike the Hudson River School Art Trail to experience the landscapes that were the subject of the works of Cole, Church and others.
Olana, Home of Frederic Church
Frederic Church, The Charter Oak, Hartford, 1846
- Olana State Historic Site
Stunning historic home of Frederic Church, Hudson River Valley School painter. Located on 250-acres with views of the Hudson River Valley, Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Range, the Church home is an exotic architectural masterpiece with Victorian, Persian and Moorish styles, and a fascinating collection of decorative objects from his worldwide travels along with his original studio and his paintings.
Culinary Institute of America Private Cooking Class
Culinary Institute of America Private Cooking Class
- Private Cooking Class & Dinner at Culinary Institute of America
We have a special opportunity to arrange for a private cooking class with CIA Chefs where we will select from a CIA menu and prepare the dinner together in their kitchen and then enjoy the food with wine. The experience will be approximately 3 hours and each of us will receive a CIA cooking apron as a memento.
Overnight Mirbeau Inn & Spa, Rhinebeck, NY
Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY
Wednesday, Oct 16: Return to Airport or Storm King Art Center, West Point, Edward Hopper House
- Storm King Art Center
Located by Storm King Mountain on the Hudson and considered one of the world’s leading sculpture parks, Storm King is a 500-acre open-air museum with over 115 large-scale modern and contemporary sculptures. Installations include works by Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Sol LeWitt, Alexander Lieberman, Roy Lichtenstein, Maya Lin, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Nam June Paik, Richard Serra, and David Smith.
- West Point, U.S. Military Academy, Highland Falls, NY
We will take a combined bus and walking tour to learn about The West Point Story, including its role in the Revolution and other history along with stories about its famous graduates such as Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. The tour will stop at Trophy Point overlooking the Hudson River and the Plain and will also include the main Cadet Chapel with its beautiful stained-glass windows and the largest pipe organ in a religious facility in the world.
- Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY
Visit the boyhood home and birthplace of Edward Hopper, the iconic American artist. If you have time and enjoy walking tours, you may choose a self-guided tour of Hopper’s childhood haunts and everyday places that inspired him. Hopper’s Nyack Walking Tour
Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY
