New York
Recent Articles
Henry Clay Frick House & Museum
A special place to visit in New York City is The Frick Collection. Like the Morgan Library, it reflects the vision of one of America’s great industrialists, Henry Clay Frick. Unlike many museums that were built to display art, this was Frick’s home. Completed in 1914, the mansion on Fifth Avenue was designed as both […]
Frederic Church’s Olana
The extraordinary estate of Frederic Edwin Church overlooking the Hudson River is known as Olana. I have made the drive to Hudson, New York more than once simply to revisit this impressive home. The house itself is stunning, but it is the combination of architecture, landscape, and sweeping views that make Olana unlike any other historic home. Every window […]
Merchant House
The Merchant House in New York City is a remarkable home that has survived almost completely intact from the nineteenth century. Built in 1832 and later owned by the wealthy Tredwell family, the house preserves not only the architecture of the period, but also the original furnishings, and atmosphere of an upper-middle-class Manhattan home from […]
Home of Franklin Roosevelt
I have taken this drive to Hyde Park many times. Over these visits, I have watched the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum expand its exhibits, telling not only the story of Roosevelt as a president, but also of the young boy who grew up along the Hudson River. From childhood memorabilia and family history to the immense responsibility of […]
Thomas Cole National Historic Site
Thomas Cole is often considered the founder of the Hudson River School, America’s first true artistic movement. His home at Thomas Cole National Historic Site is modest, especially when compared to the grand estates of some of his students, yet this quiet setting became an important gathering place for artists. Within these walls, and in the surrounding […]
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site
While traveling through the Hudson River Valley, we made our way to Hyde Park to visit the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site. Set above the Hudson River, the estate presents a sense of scale. This was the country home of Frederick William Vanderfilt, a member of one of the most influential families of the Gilded Age. […]
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
Visiting Val-Kill in Hyde Park is special to me. Eleanor Roosevelt is a woman I admire, for her courage and for how she grew into the role she eventually played on the world’s stage. Val-Kill was not created as a grand residence. In the 1920, it began as a small furniture workshop, part of Eleanor’s effort to […]
Dutch Farmhouse
During our homeschooling years, many of our lessons took place on the road. We would explore historic houses throughout New England and the Hudson River Valley, giving the girls a chance to step inside the past rather than just read about it. Traveling through this part of New York also reminded us that the region has […]
Poe’s Cottage
Tucked inside Poe Park in the Bronx is a small, white cottage that feels worlds away from the city that now surrounds it. The modest home was the final residence of Edgar Allen Poe, who moved here in 1846 seeking quiet and relief for his ailing wife, Virginia. At the time, this was rural farmland far […]
Hamilton Grange National Memorial
For those who have seen the musical Hamilton, do you remember the moment when the family “moves uptown? In the late 18th century, uptown meant leaving the crowded streets of lower Manhattan for open farmland to the north. This are would later become Harlem. That is where Alexander Hamilton built his country retreat, a house known […]
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
An often-forgotten president, Martin van Buren, is remembered at his home, Lindenwald, in Kinderhook, New York. This site is now preserved as the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. I have visited this house a couple of times, and the house itself leaves an impression, especially with its distinctive French scenic wallpaper that wraps entire rooms in […]
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, in a brownstone home on East 20th Street in Manhattan. Though the original house was demolished in 1916, it was reconstructed in the 1920s on the original site, using photographs, family memories and original furnishings to recreate the homes it would have appeared during his childhood. The house reflects the […]
