Dateline: November 30, 2011
Much like Newport, New York's Hudson Valley is home to some of the region's finest architectural masterpieces, which served as mansion homes to industrialists and the landed gentry. These elegant mansions are even more breathtaking when adorned with Christmas decorations. Here's your guide to seeing some of my home state's finest splendor this holiday season.
Hint: Most of the Hudson Valley mansions have wonderful gift shops, and your purchases support preservation!
Boscobel Holiday Tours
Boscobel, a Federal-style mansion in Garrison, New York, overlooking the Hudson River and West Point, will offer a special Children's Yuletide Tea with Santa and Mrs. Claus December 11. Advance ticket purchase is required. Daytime Holiday House Tours of Boscobel are also offered December 1-31 daily except Tuesdays and Christmas Day. Visitors will have a chance to see the mansion decked out for the holidays and to learn about holiday traditions and entertaining during the Federal period. House Tour reservations are not required. Tickets must be purchased ahead, however, for special evenings tours on December 18 and 30 featuring holiday stories and elegant chamber music.
Christmas at Clermont
Clermont State Historic Site invites you to celebrate Christmas with the Livingston family on Saturday, December 17, during a free public open house. A Child's Christmas will be the theme of holiday tours offered December 3-4. Special candlelight tours of Clermont will also be offered this year beginning at 3 p.m. on December 11. After your tour, enjoy a bonfire in the mansion's back yard.
Evening Candlelight Tours at Van Cortlandt Manor
Candlelight Tours at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, are scheduled for December 3, 10 and 17, departing from 4 to 8 p.m. The manor house will be decked out in greenery, and the neighboring Ferry House tavern will be alive with a celebration featuring fiddle music, dancing, crackling fires and tasty refreshments. Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 914-631-8200.
Candlelight Tours at Washington Irving's Sunnyside
Washington Irving's Sunnyside in Tarrytown, New York, will host candlelight tours on December 3, 10 and 17 this year. Experience an 1850s Christmas as you stroll the lantern-lit path to Irving's cottage and listen to the author's family letters and holiday tales inside his greenery bedecked, candlelit home. Tours also feature carol singing by the piano and hot cider served fireside in the kitchen yard. Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 914-631-8200.
Fairy Tale Holiday Evenings at Lyndhurst
Located in Tarrytown, New York, Lyndhurst is a fortress-like Gothic Revival Mansion on the Hudson River. This National Trust for Historic Preservation property welcomes visitors to its Fairy Tale Holiday Evenings on Saturdays and Sundays through December 18. Celebrate the season as you tour the mansion's lavishly decorated rooms and enjoy live music. Reservations are advised. Call 914-631-4481, ext. 0.
A Gilded Age Christmas at Staatsburgh State Historic Site
Celebrate a "Gilded Age Christmas" at Staatsburgh State Historic Site in my home hamlet of Staatsburg, New York, Thursday through Sunday from December 1 through 24, plus Monday through Saturday, December 26-31. You'll marvel at the splendid dining room decorations at this Gilded Age landmark, also known as the Mills Mansion. If there's snow--take the kids! They'll love sledding with a Hudson River view.
A Gilded Age Christmas at Vanderbilt Mansion
Welcome the season at Vanderbilt Mansion's free Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and see sparkling trees and other elaborate Christmas decorations during December tours at this gracious mansion in Hyde Park, New York.
Holiday Open House at the Home of Franklin Roosevelt
Visit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill in Hyde Park, New York, on Saturday, December 10, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a glimpse of how the president and his family celebrated the holidays. FDR's mansion and Val-Kill cottage will be decorated for the holidays. Admission to the event is free. If you're visiting Hyde Park with children, plan to also enjoy special holiday events including the opportunity to listen to authors participating in the Children's Reading Festival in the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center.
Olana Holiday House Tours
Sculptor Frederic Church's picturesque and eclectic home, Olana, in Hudson, New York, will host Holiday House Tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays December 2 through 31 (closed Christmas Day). The tours focus on how the Church family celebrated the holidays at home and feature a reading of eldest son Frederic Joseph's 19th-century letter to Santa Claus. For tour reservations, call 518-828-0135. Olana also offers a Victorian Wreathmaking workshop on Sunday, December 11, from 10-11:30 a.m. or 12-1:30 p.m. Registration is required.
Victorian Holiday Tours at Wilderstein
Wilderstein, an imposing Queen Anne Victorian mansion in Rhinebeck, New York, will be decked out in floral splendor for the holiday season. For more than 30 years, talented florists and designers have transformed the first floor of Margaret (Daisy) Suckley's home into a Christmas wonderland, and visitors can enjoy self-guided tours of the mansion's Victorian and modern decorations on weekends from November 25-December 18, plus Monday and Tuesday, December 26-27. Make reservations for the special Yuletide Tea on Saturday, December 10 by calling 845-876-4818.
The Twelve Days of Christmas at Locust Grove
Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, New York, is best known as home of telegraph inventor Samuel F.B. Morse, but the mansion's original owner, Henry Livingston, Jr., also has a claim to fame. Some scholars believe he's the true author of the classic Christmas tale, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." On Saturdays in December and the week after Christmas, December 26-31, Locust Grove celebrates the magic of Christmas past with special holiday season tours. This year's theme is "The Nutcracker," and the mansion's rooms will be decorated with trees that showcase scenes from this holiday classic. Sundays December 4, 11 and 18 feature hunts for kids, with clues from "The Nutcracker." Make reservations for Locust Grove's fourth annual Twilight Holiday Tour and Historic Four-Course Dinner at the mansion on Saturday, December 3, by calling 845-454-4500.
