Basil and I had the opportunity to visit Olana State Historic Site and the Fenimore Art Museum earlier this week. We couldn’t have asked for better weather to explore the Hudson Valley region: sunny and low 70 degrees 🙂
Our first stop on our 2-day visit was to Frederic Church’s home, Olana, even though the home is not open to tour on Mondays, the property is open to the public to view the outside of the home as well as explore the extensive property and walking paths.
There are many areas to just sit and enjoy the views, Basil especially loved the live wood benches:
Olana also had two site-specific outdoor artworks to enjoy during your stroll around the grounds. We were pleasantly surprised when we came upon Ellen Harvey’s installation ‘Winter in the Summer House’ not far from the house. It is quite unassuming on the outside, but once inside, the effect was stunning:
The best part of Olana? The absolutely amazing views of the Hudson River Valley region – we can see why Church chose this spot to build his home:
Our intention was to explore a portion of the nearby Hudson River Skywalk, which is a scenic 6-mile round trip pedestrian walkway, but our tour of Olana admittedly tuckered us out and we still had about 90-minute drive to arrive at our hotel, so we decided to explore the Skywalk on our next visit to the area.
I will admit that our recent adventure has ignited a renewed interest in the Hudson River School and their artists, so I expect that I will be spending some time with them in my studies soon. If you are interested in learning more, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_School
The highlight of our adventure was to visit the Fenimore Art Museum to see ‘Mary Cassatt / Berthe Morisot: Allies in Impressionism’ show on Tuesday morning. An opportunity to see work by these Ladies is rare, so for me, this was not to be missed:
In case you are interested, the Cassatt/Morisot show closes September 1st, 2025, so there is still time to see it.
The Fenimore is also showing ‘The Power of Photography: 19th-20th Century Original Master Prints’, which I felt was absolutely incredible. The show features a selection of 120 iconic images by 120 different photographers, unfortunately, photography was not allowed, but the historical and social impact of the work was unmistakable.
The Fenimore also showcased some amazing masterworks:
I am especially a fan of Childe Hassam and was happy that he was represented:
After our tour of the Fenimore, Basil and I were looking forward to spending some time relaxing on the museum’s terrace overlooking Lake Otsego:
Basil and I are looking forward to a return visit, hopefully next summer!
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