What You See & What You Don't See Landscape Tour (2)Staatsburg, N.Y.  (8/21/24) — Staatsburgh State Historic Site is offering free guided landscape walks on the Gilded Age estate’s beautiful grounds overlooking the Hudson River. The program, entitled “What You See… and What You Don’t See,” shows how Staatsburgh’s landscape architect designed a glorious setting that showcased the good life in the Gilded Age, while deliberately using landscape elements to hide the technology and labor that made a turn-of-the-century estate run. Using historic photos of the grounds, the tour will reveal what visitors would have seen at the turn of the 20th century, but also step behind the curtain to show what was hidden from them.

The free program tour will be offered on Fridays, September 6, 13, 20 & 27 at 10:00 a.m. Advanced reservations are required: www.Bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

“On this guided walk, you’ll be able to imagine what it would be like to be a guest of Ruth Livingston Mills at one of her very exclusive parties at Staatsburgh,” says site educator, Don Fraser: “On a beautiful afternoon, you might stroll along the Hudson, or sail the river on the Mills’ yacht, or take a carriage drive. The grounds would present you with stunning vistas and lovely gardens; but tucked out of view, the estate staff would be shoveling coal, laundering piles of clothes and linens, or tending to animals, and all that would be invisible to you.”

The walk will be about one mile of mostly level terrain, with some uphill walking.  The program, including the walk, discussion, and looking at historic photos, will take about 1½ hours. Visitors may also wish to picnic along the river, or tour the site’s Gilded Age mansion (an admission fee applies to mansion tours, and reservations are required at www.Bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS )

Staatsburgh State Historic Site and the Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Memorial State Park are located on Old Post Road in Staatsburg, off Route 9 between Rhinebeck and Hyde Park. The historic site is one of 6 sites and 15 parks administered by the Taconic Region of New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. For more information, call 845-889-8851, or visit Staatsburgh’s websites at https://www.Bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS, www.facebook.com/StaatsburghSHS, and www.staatsburghstatehistoricsite.blogspot.com. Staatsburgh’s events are also listed at parks.ny.gov

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which saw a record 84 million visits in 2023. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit parks.ny.gov, download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call 518.474.0456. Join us in celebrating our Centennial throughout 2024, and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and the OPRHP Blog.

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Contact:

Pam Malcolm | (845) 889-8851 x 339 | Pam.Malcolm@parks.ny.gov