Olana
Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), one of America’s most important artists, a student of Thomas Cole, and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Built high on a hill near Hudson, New York between 1870 and 1891, then as now, Olana offers magnificent sweeping vistas of the Catskill Mountains, the Hudson River and the Taconic Hills. Today, Olana is a New York State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York. Opened to the public in 1967, the house, its contents, and the landscape, still look very much as they did in Church’s day.1,000 photographs, and an archival collection of over 7,000 items.
The estate also boasts 250-acres of pristine wilderness, including 5 miles of groomed carriage trails, that is the setting for some of the most beautiful views in the Hudson Valley. Thousands of people each year travel long distances to experience the Olana view shed: the celebrated vistas of river, sky, forest, mountains, farmland and orchards – and the spectacular display as the sun sets behind the Catskill Mountains
When developing the parkland known as Olana, Frederic Church followed the Picturesque style, emphasizing the beauty of the natural landscape by rearranging the composition to best effect. Church worked with the existing property and turned scrubby grassland and farmland into a composition of forest, orchard, hills, a lake, open spaces, and carriage drives. Much as he composed his paintings, Church provided a variety of visual experiences, using a foreground of farm or woodland, a middle view of river and water, and a background of mountains. In fact, the estate is considered his last, great masterpiece.
The artists who shared Church’s style of painting, later called the Hudson River School, painted places of natural beauty: the Hudson River and its environs, New England, the Adirondack Mountains, the Andes, the Alps, the tropics, the Arctic and the majesty of the American West. What interested them, as well as writers and naturalists of the period, was the intricate relationship between man and the natural world, the interface of the cultivated and natural landscape. They are often thought of as the inspiration behind the growth of the modern conservation movement and the development of the national parks.
Today, the grounds at Olana are the setting for many outdoor activities, including snowshoeing, cross country skiing, bird watching, picnicking, hiking and running. The numerous species of wildlife that exist on the site also provide unique educational opportunities. Coyotes, muskrat, deer, Canadian geese, foxes and many kinds of birds are often the topic of educational lectures or estate walks. The rural, hilltop location of Olana also affords magnificent views of a star-filled sky on a clear night.
Each summer, a diverse selection of programs and events are offered to the community to make Olana a preferred destination for outdoor and cultural activities in the area. Information on tickets for events is available at the Olana Summer website.
Many other programs are presented to the community free of charge. A complete listing of events and the current tour season schedule is available at Olana’s main website.
~ Kimberly LaMay