Get More Information On the first Sunday in June, coinciding with National Trails Day, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site officially unveiled the first phase of the Hudson River School Art Trail project, which maps the painting sites of 19th-century artist Thomas Cole and his contemporaries including Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey, Sanford Gifford, and Asher B. Durand. Forming the core of the art movement now known as the Hudson River School, these artists hiked, sketched and painted in the region surrounding Thomas Cole's home in Catskill. Many of these views are spectacularly preserved and accessible to the public. The Hudson River School Art Trail project maps the locations from which these painted views can be seen, and enables the public to find and compare the painted and actual views today. The full-color brochure includes reproductions of eleven paintings of seven different views. In several cases, a single view is represented by several paintings by different artists, and comparisons can be made between them. For example, the scene at Trail Site #3, a view overlooking Catskill Creek, was painted by both Church and Cole, and both paintings are reproduced in the brochure. The paintings in the brochure are in the collections of major museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, The Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Albany Institute of History and Art. Also included in the brochure is a map showing the roads and foot-paths that lead to the painting sites, along with detailed driving and walking directions. Several of the sites are on or very close to a road accessible by car, while others require hikes of varying lengths. The sites are all within 15 miles of Cedar Grove, the Thomas Cole site. The Trail Sites The Hudson River School Art Trail is presented by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in partnership with Olana, the home and workplace of artist Frederic Church. The historic homes and studios of Cole and Church are Trail Sites 1 and 2 respectively and together form the anchor for the Trail. The following is a list of the other five sites: Trail Site 3: View on the Catskill Creek Trail Site 4: Kaaterskill Clove Trail Site 5: Kaaterskill Falls Trail Site 6: North-South Lake Trail Site 7: Sunset Rock Future Development of the Trail Phase one of the development of the Trail is now completed. Phase one included choosing the first seven Trail sites and creating a brochure and web site with maps, driving directions and printed representations of the painted views to use as a comparison with today's actual views. The next phase will include the design and construction of trail markers and outdoor wayside interpretive signs. The outdoor signage will include reproductions of paintings depicting each site as well as background information on the painting, the artist, and relevant historical facts and anecdotes about the site. These wayside interpretive signs will serve as “captions on the landscape,” enhancing the visitor’s understanding about the Hudson River Valley landscape and the art that it inspired. An enlarged website for the project is also under construction, which will enable the public to download and print maps and directions to the sites. In future years, Cedar Grove expects to add additional sites to the Trail. The Trail was developed with assistance from the National Park Service Rivers & Trails program, and with the Greene County Tourism Promotion Department. The Trail project is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, with special thanks to Congressman John Sweeney. About Thomas Cole Long regarded as the founder of America's first art movement, known as the Hudson River School, Thomas Cole (1801-1848) is a central figure in the development of American culture. When Cole made his first trip up the Hudson River in 1825, thought-leaders in America were searching for something distinctly American to establish the nation's own culture as separate from that of Europe. Thomas Cole found it in the Catskill Mountain wilderness, which came to symbolize the unspoiled character of the new nation. Lionized during his lifetime and celebrated by a generation of artists who followed in his footsteps, Cole is now widely regarded as the father of American landscape painting. About the Hudson River School The Hudson River School is the first coherent American art style, and was the prevalent genre of the19th-century. With roots in European Romanticism, the Hudson River painters, nonetheless, defined a distinct vision for American art through sweeping depictions of its landscape. The movement is credited with having a major influence on America's understanding of its natural environment, its national destiny, the idea that nature reflected the divine, and the desire for touring the country's natural wonders. About Cedar Grove Cedar Grove is the site where the artist Thomas Cole lived, worked and was married, and where he died at the age of 47. Today the site consists of the Federal style brick home (c. 1815), as well as Thomas Cole's original studio building, on 5 landscaped acres with a magnificent view of the Catskill Mountains. In recent years the house has undergone a major restoration, and now contains both furnished rooms and gallery rooms with special exhibitions. The newly restored studio contains Cole's original easel and art-making tools, and offers a greater understanding of the artist and his working environment.