Arrange a Group Visit
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site welcomes groups to visit the historic home, studio, and grounds of Thomas Cole's Cedar Grove. Group tours are welcome Tuesday through Sunday, 9am to 5pm. In addition to tours of the main house, groups may enjoy the gardens, a picnic on the lawn, or a visit to related sites nearby such as the Hudson
River School Art Trail; Olana, the home of Cole's pupil Frederic
Church; Thomas Cole's gravesite, or the Bronck Museum.
Smaller
groups (ten or fewer people) are welcome to visit the Main House during
regular hours of operation without appointment, or may visit at other
times by advance appointment. Large groups are encouraged to make
advance arrangements.
Whether you
contact us by phone, fax, or email, please supply the following
information:
- The number of people in your group
- The preferred date and time of your visit
- A contact name
- A contact postal address, phone number,
and email address
To make a
reservation, or request more information:
Use our online
form
By telephone: 518-943-7465 ext. 2, and ask for Gregory Rosenthal
By fax: 518-943-0652
Admission
Admission to the
grounds is free of charge.
Admission to the Main House and Old Studio is by guided tour.
Tickets are $7
per person during regular
open hours.
For visits during off hours, admission is $7 per person or $5 per senior or student, plus $25 for each tour guide that we provide. We require at least one tour guide for every 12 people. If your group is very small, your total cost may revert to the minimum, which is $75.
Please email,
call or fax in advance for visits during off hours.
About Your Visit
A visit to Cedar
Grove provides entry into the world of the man who became the father of
American landscape painting and founder of the Hudson River School of
art. Visitors gather on the porch of the Main House, where one of the
most perfect views of the Catskill Mountain range can be enjoyed,
assisted by the Mountain Guide Kiosk which identifies the major peaks
in the mountain landscape. A friendly and knowledgeable guide leads
visitors through the historic flower garden and rose arbor, and to the
famous 200-year old Honey Locust Tree. Visitors then enter the 1815
Federal yellow-brick Main House and tour the historic rooms where the
Cole family lived, including the West Parlor where Thomas Cole was
married, and the West Bedroom where his children were born--and where
Cole breathed his last breath in 1848. The Main House also includes
gallery rooms, where exhibitions of art from the Hudson River School
and beyond are on display. The tour continues into the "Old Studio"
where Cole painted many of his best known works, and which still
contains Cole's original easel and art-making materials. At the
conclusion of the tour, visitors may wish to browse the museum shop
where a variety of items related to Thomas Cole and landscape painting
are available for purchase, and to read the educational panels and
displays before they depart.
Bus Tour
Logistics
Bus
parking is available in the adjacent parking lot that is shared with
Temple Israel, accessible from Spring Street. Please drive all the way
into the lot and park in the upper portion. From the parking lot, visitors
can proceed to the visitor center (the white barn) and gather there for
the commencement of their tour. It is recommended to allow at least one hour for your
visit. However, shorter or longer visits can be arranged to accommodate
your schedule.
Other Sites For Your Itinerary
More
than 300 Years of Hudson Valley History are reflected in the cluster of
architecturally significant buildings that comprise the Bronck Museum,
including the Hudson Valley's oldest home, built in 1663. After eight
generations of Broncks had maintained the homestead as a working farm,
it came to the Greene County Historical Society, which maintains the
Bronck Homestead as its headquarters and as a museum to house valuable
historical collections which reflect the region's history.
Just
across the river from Cedar Grove, Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin
Church (1826-1900), a major figure in the Hudson River School of
landscape painting and the pupil of Thomas Cole. Built high on a hill
near Hudson, New York between 1870 and 1891, Olana offers magnificent
sweeping vistas of the Catskill Mountains, the Hudson River and the
Taconic Hills. Called by Church "the Center of the World," Olana's
Persian style house and 250 acres of picturesque grounds are a personal
vision of harmony between people and the American landscape.
The
150-acre estate of artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, known as
Locust Grove, is located on the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The Italianate villa, designed by Morse himself with Alexander Jackson
Davis, contains a sizable collection of American and European fine and
decorative art, and is surrounded by extensive gardens and winding
carriage roads. From both the mansion and the property, some of the
most stunning vistas of the Hudson Valley are artfully framed by the
architecture and landscape.
