Olana State Historic Site

In 1860, at the height of his career as one of America’s most renowned landscape painters, Frederic Edwin Church began purchasing farmland overlooking the Hudson River. After a trip to the Middle East in the late 1860s, Church worked with architect Calvert Vaux to design a home on the estate’s highest point that incorporated exotic architectural elements he saw on his travels. A series of towers, balconies, recessed porches, and stenciling adorned the home, which featured a central Court Hall surrounded by living spaces for the family that were filled with an eclectic mix of furnishings and objects. Church used the surrounding land as a three-dimensional canvas, planting thousands of trees, creating a lake, and building over five miles of carriage drives. Olana is considered a landmark of Picturesque landscape gardening, with the house at its summit and embracing unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley.

Amenities: Passport Stamp, Family Friendly, Greenway Trail Access, Restrooms