Thomas Cole National Historic Site - Hudson River School Art Trail

TRAIL VIEWS

The following views are located within 15 miles of Cedar Grove and Olana, and are included in the Hudson River School Art Trail. We would like to extend a special thanks to the photographers who captured these views and have granted us permission to share their images with the public. Please note that all images below are copyright protected.
Click here for a printable version of the seven trail sites.

View from Trail Site #1
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site
The federal-style home and workplace of Thomas Cole (1801–1848) offers wonderful views of the Catskill Mountains, original paintings, period furnishings and numerous Cole artifacts and memorabilia.

Charles Herbert Moore, Thomas Cole’s Cedar Grove, 1868.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site

Photograph of the Main House at Cedar Grove
©Cedar Grove

Thomas Cole, View on the Catskill - Early Autumn, 1838.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Photograph from the West Porch
© Cedar Grove

View from Trail Site #2
The Olana State Historic Site

The 250-acre estate of Frederic Edwin Church, a former student of Thomas Cole and a leading Hudson River School artist, includes Church's first residence and farm complex, Persian-Style villa, and unsurpassed views.

Frederic Church, Clouds Over Olana, 1872.
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

Photograph by Ted Spiegel

Frederic Church, The Hudson Valley in Winter from Olana,
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

Photograph from Olana

View from Trail Site #3
View on the Catskill Creek

Just a few miles from Thomas Cole's home, this scene was frequented by Frederic Church when he was a student of Thomas Cole's, and was painted several times by both artists.

Frederic Church, Scene on Catskill Creek, 1847.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, MD

Photograph of Catskill Creek (c) Cedar Grove

Thomas Cole, View on Catskill Creek, c. 1833.
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY

Frederic Church, The Catskill Creek, 1845
Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY

View from Trail Site #4
Kaaterskill Clove

The Clove, a distinctive feature or "cleft" in the Catskills, was one of the places most painted by the Hudson River School artists. The area is largely as it was in the 19th-century due to its inclusion in the Catskill Forest Preserve.

Thomas Cole, The Clove, Catskills, 1827. Oil on canvas, 25 x 33 in. New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT

Photograph by Francis Driscoll

Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits, 1849. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Walton Family Foundation, Inc.

View from Trail Site #5
Kaaterskill Falls

The Kaaterskill Falls is a dramatic two-tiered waterfall often noted as the most beautiful in the region and a favorite subject of many of the Hudson River School painters.

Thomas Cole, Falls of the Kaaterskill, 1826. The Warner Collection of Gulf States Paper Corporation

Photograph by Mark McCarroll

View from Trail Site #6
North – South Lake

The extraordinary beauty of this site was the inspiration for many paintings by artists of the Hudson River School.

Thomas Cole, Lake with Dead Trees, 1825.
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio

Jasper Francis Cropsey, Catskill Creek, 1850. Oil on canvas, 18-3/8 x 27-1/4 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase 1966.50 (Note: this Cropsey painting above is misnamed. It depicts North-South Lake, not Catskill Creek.)

View from Trail Site # 7
Sunset Rock (Also know as Bear's Den)

A prized location for its magnificent scenic views of the Hudson River Valley and the North and South Lakes.

Jasper Francis Cropsey, Catskill Mountain House, 1855.
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Photograph by Peter Kick

Thomas Cole, The Catskill Mountain House: The Four Elements, 1843-44. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 in. Private Collection