A Tourist Guide to Rhinebeck, New York

1. Introduction and History				aerodrome while having lunch on outdoor picnic tables
Located on the east side of the Hudson River in				at the Aerodrome Canteen.
Dutchess County some 100 miles north of Manhattan,				Audience volunteers, sporting Victorian, Edwardian, and
Rhinebeck, accessed by the Taconic State Parkway,				1920s dress, provide fashion shows after changing in
Route 9, Route 9W, and the New York State				the aerodrome's single, track-mounted, red caboose,
Thruway, is both a picturesque and intensely historic				often transported past spectators in vintage vehicles
village. It itself is part of the Hudson River Valley				such as a 1909 Renault, a 1916 Studebaker, and a 1914
National Historic Area which was established in 1996				Model T Speedster. Period music completes the
by Congress to recognize, preserve, protect, and				scene.
interpret the nationally significant history and resources				The air shows themselves, which feature only
of the valley for the benefit of the nation, and				treetop-high sprints of the pioneer aircraft before
stretches from Yonkers to Albany.				immediate relandings on the grass, otherwise offer
Founded in 1686 when Dutchmen Gerrit Artsen, Arie				more dramatic maneuvers of the World War I and
Roosa, Jan Elting, and Henrick Kip exchanged 2,200				Lindbergh era designs, including aerobatics, dogfights,
acres of local land with six Indians of the Esopus				bomb raids, balloon bursts, parachutists, and "Delsey
(Kingston) and Sopaseo (Rhinebeck) tribes, it was				drives."
initially designated "Kipsbergen." In 1713, Judge Henry				5. Montgomery Place
Beekman referred to these land holdings as "Ryn				Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and nestled on
Beck" for the first time.				a landscape influenced by Andrew Jackson Downing,
One of the country's largest historic districts with 437				Montgomery Place, located off of Route 9G in
sites listed on the National Historic Register, the nucleic				Annandale-on-Hudson, is a richly-ornamented, classical
Village of Rhinebeck and the larger, surrounding Town				revival, architectural landmark, reflecting both Hudson
of Rhinebeck, encompass half of the 16-mile stretch				Valley estate life and almost 200 years of family
which includes the 30 contiguous riverfront estates				ownership and imprint.
associated with the landed aristocracy of the region				Tracing its origins to 1802 when 59-year-old Janet
during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.				Livingston Montgomery had purchased a 242-acre
Often dubbed a "picturesque village" and the "jewel of				area to establish a commercial farm and construct a
the Hudson," it offers many walking-proximity				house called the "Chateau de Montgomery" to honor
attractions, such as antique shops, art galleries,				her husband, General Richard Montgomery, it first
bed-and-breakfasts, inns, and restaurants, usually				served as a base in which to live and work.
housed in historic buildings.				Poised at the end of a half-mile long alley of deciduous
Signature and stalwart of the village is the Beekman				trees, the federal style, stuccoed fieldstone house
Arms, America's oldest, continuously operating inn listed				became the center of orchards, gardens, nurseries,
on the National Register of Historic Places. Tracing its				and greenhouses, and flowers and trees had been
origins to 1766 when Arent Traphagen relocated his				sent to her from exotic areas of the world, including
father's successful Bogardos structure of stone and				magnolia, yellow jasmine, orange, and mangos from
sturdy timber--so constructed to protect it against				England and Italy in Europe and Antigua in the
Indian attacks--to the crossroads of the recently				Caribbean. The prosperous enterprise supplied seeds
designated Ryn Beck village, it ultimately served as a				and fruit trees to local farmers.
Mecca of revolutionaries, often hosting the likes of				Although the estate had been intended for General
George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and Alexander				Montgomery's heirs, their earlier deaths forced her to
Hamilton. When the British burned then-state capital				cede it to her youngest brother, Edward Livingston,
Kingston, located across the Hudson, the townspeople				whose public service career had encompassed
sought refuge here.				positions as New York City Mayor, US Representative
Purchased by Asa Potter in 1802, it subsequently				and Senator from Louisiana, Secretary of State, and
served multiple roles, including town hall, theater, post				Minister of Finance during the Andrew Jackson
office, and newspaper post.				administration.
Renovated, expanded, and renamed its current				Louis Livingston, his widow, and Coralie Livingston
"Beekman Arms" moniker by secondary owner Tracy				Barton, his daughter, renamed the mansion
Durs, it served as inspiration for Thomas Wolfe's novel,				"Montgomery Place," using it as a summer domicile and
Of Time and the River, after frequent visits here, and				extensively modifying its architectural and landscape
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hailing from nearby Hyde				features during a 40-year period. The farm and
Park, initiated all four of his successful gubernatorial				pastureland, particularly, sported formal flower gardens
and presidential campaigns form its very front porch.				and an ornate conservatory, and the estate's
The significantly larger complex provides venues for				aesthetics were enhanced with walking paths to the
sightseeing, dining, and accommodation, amidst a				Saw Kill Stream, rustic benches, colorful fruit gardens,
preserved, colonial atmosphere.				and an arboretum comprised of purple-leafed
The Tavern at Beekman Arms, located on the ground				European beech, cucumber magnolia, red oak,
floor, is decorated with dark wood trim, a huge brick				sweetgum, Tuliptree, white oak, Sargent's weeping
fireplace, and wide plank floors, and is subdivided into				hemlock, flowering dogwood, Amur Corktree, black
the Colonial Tap Room, a garden greenhouse, and				locust, and Sycamore trees. These 150-year-od
several separate dining areas.				monoliths of nature can still be enjoyed today during
The upper floors contain the original inn's meticulously				the walk from the Visitor's Center and the actual
restored and elegantly appointed 1766 rooms, although				mansion.
accommodation is available in numerous affiliated				Based upon the style of Alexander Jackson Davis,
structures. Amid exposed brick walls and high ceilings,				then the greatest American architect of the romantic
for instance, guests can stay in the village's original				movement, the house itself was redesigned with
firehouse, while the Townsend House, which opened in				porches, wings, and balustrades during a dual-phase
2004, features the design and architecture influenced				process which commenced in 1842 and later in 1860,
by Rhinebeck's other historical structures. The Guest				rendering it the classical revival example it is today.
House, located behind the main inn, offers lower-cost,				Andrew Jackson Downing, then foremost landscape
motel-style rooms.				writer and co-owner of a nursery in Newburgh, New
The Delameter Inn, designed in 1844 by Alexander				York, provided input concerning gardens, statuary,
Jackson Davis and an example of American				walking paths, and water features.
Carpenter Gothic architecture, is one block north of the				After a post-Civil War decline, during which time the
Beekman Arms, and is part of a seven-guesthouse				property had been occupied by relatives, General John
complex which surrounds a courtyard. Many rooms				Ross Delafield, a Livingston descendent and New York
feature fireplaces.				attorney, inherited it, and his wife, Violetta White
Rhinebeck itself offers many attractions. The				Delafield, herself a botanist, resurrected the landscape
Dutchess County Fairgrounds, for instance, hosts				by introducing garden rooms for roses, herbs, and
events such as the Dutchess County Fair, the				perennials, a wild garden with an artificial stream, and a
Rhinebeck Antiques Fair, the Crafts at Rhinebeck				hedged ellipse with a pool for aquatic plants.
exhibition, and the Iroquos Festival, while the Center for				In 1986, Delafield descendants conveyed title to
Performing Arts at Rhinebeck offers live classical,				Montgomery Place, its 424 acres of land, and a portion
drama, musical, and children's performances				of the hamlet of Annandale, to Sleepy Hollow
showcasing local theater companies, although talent				Restorations (later renamed Historic Hudson Valley) in
has also included national and international names.				order to ensure its restoration and preservation. Now a
Resembling an oversized barn to complement the				National Historic Landmark, it reopened to the public
surrounding rural landscape and to pay tribute to the				two years later.
origins of summer stock, it replaced the temporary tent				6. Bard College
under which seasonal performances had been given				Only a short distance further north and immediately off
between 1994 and 1997, opening in July of the following				of Route 9G in Annandale-on-Hudson is Bard College.
year and becoming a year-round venue in 1999.				A fusion of two historic estates, the liberal arts,
Several early-aviation and architecturally historic sights				residential campus, situated on more than 500 acres of
surround the immediate town, most of which offer				fields and forested land bordering the river, features a
exquisite views of the Hudson River and the Catskill				complex of trails and walking paths through wooded
Mountains beyond it.				areas, along the Saw Kill Stream, and down to the
2. Museum of Rhinebeck History				Hudson River, where the rising Catskill Mountains are
Located 3.5 miles north of the Village of Rhinebeck on				visible.
Route 9, the Museum of Rhinebeck History, housed in				Founded in 1860 by John Bard in association with the
the historic Quitman House, was founded in 1992 "to				New York City leadership of the Episcopal Church and
encourage understanding and appreciation of				initially named St. Stephens College, it used part of
Rhinebeck history through the collection, preservation,				Bard's riverside estate, Annandale, and the Chapel of
exhibition, and interpretation of materials significant to				the Holy Innocents, both of which he donated, to teach
Rhinebeck" by means of letters, books, journals,				a classic, preparatory curriculum for those intending to
clothing, furniture, photographs, postcards, and artifacts.				enter the seminary.
Open from mid-June to October 31, it features two				Transitioning to a broader, more secular institution in
annual exhibits, previous ones of which have been				1919, it incorporated both natural and social science
entitled "The First Century," "The Civil War," "The				courses in its curriculum for the first time, and a
Guilded Age," "World War I," "The Roosevelt Years,"				decade later served as an undergraduate school of
"World War II," and "Early Rhinebeck Industries," among				Columbia University. Increasingly focusing on liberal arts,
others.				it officially adopted the "Bard College" name in 1934
The Quitman House, marking the area of the town's				and ten years later became a coeducational institution,
first settlement, had been built in 1798 as a parsonage				severing ties with Columbia.
by the parishioners of the nearby Old Stone Church				By 1960, the very expanded curriculum included
for the Reverend Frederick H. Quitman, who had				science, art, art history, sculpture, and anthropology, and
served the Lutheran congregation for more than three				attracted a significantly larger student and faculty base.
decades.				A film department was introduced.
Henry Beekman, who had settled 35 Palatine German				Its first graduate program, the Milton Avery Graduate
families in the area in the early-1700s, had been given				School of the Arts, was established in 1981, and, by the
most of the land by royal grant, and the nascent				summer of 1990, the Bard Music Festival, created to
community developed round a single log church until				provide a deeper appreciation of the repertory of
the 19th century, at which time commerce had taken				reknowned composers, was introduced, focusing on
root three miles south in the village designated "The				the work and era of a different artist and showcased
Flatts."				in the modern, metal-roofed, Frank O. Gehry-designed
3. Wilderstein				Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in
Located two-and-a-half miles from the historic				2003. The architecturally bold, innovative structure,
downtown district of Rhinebeck, Wilderstein, named				offering tours during the day and chamber, orchestral,
after the petroglyph of a figure holding a peace pipe in				jazz music, drama, musical, dance, and opera
his right hand and a tomahawk in his left in Suckley				performances by American and international artists
Cove, translates as "wild man's stone" from the				during the evening, is subdivided into three venues. The
German, and had been a restrained Italianast villa when				Sosnoff Theater, with an orchestra, parterre, and two
it had been built in 1852. Home to three generations of				balcony sections, features seating for 900, while the
the Suckley family, it had been significantly enlarged in				teaching Theater Two sports adjustable, bleacher-type
1888 with two upper floors, a tower, and a veranda,				seats and a semi-fly tower with a catwalk. The
rendering it the elaborate Queen Anne-style mansion				Felicitas S. Thorne Dance Studio serves as a
overlooking the Hudson River it is today.				classroom and rehearsal hall.
The interior retains all of its original wall carvings,				7. Clermont State Historic Site
furniture, artwork, book collections, and stained glass				The 500-acre Clermont State Historic Site, north of the
from its 1888 expansion, and the ground floor, designed				town of Tivoli and off of Route 9G, was the seat of
by Joseph Burr Tifany, features a dark,				the politically and socially prominent Livingston family
heavily-paneled foyer, a fireplace, a library, a dining				whose seven generations shaped both the house and
room, a kitchen, and two living rooms.				its grounds over a 230-year period.
Calvert Vaux and his son, hired in 1890 to design the				The estate harks to 1728 when Robert Livingston, Jr.
outdoor landscape in Romantic style, had already had				acquired 13,000 acres of land along the Hudson River
a long list of similar accomplishments, among them				from his father, the First Lord of Livingston Manor, who
other Hudson River estates and Prospect Park and				had owned the second largest tract of private land in
Central Park in New York, and had ordered 1,091				colonial New York, and built a brick, Georgian-style
shrubs and 41 trees from a local Rhinebeck nursery				mansion between 1730 and 1750, christening it with the
for the Wilderstein project. The area, greatly reduced				French name for "clear mountain," or "clermont," after
from its original size, currently encompasses 40 acres				the Catskill peaks visible across from it.
and three miles of trails.				When his only son, Robert P. Livingston, subsequently
Margaret (Daisy) Suckley, a close friend of Franklin				married Margaret Beekman, who herself had been heir
Delano Roosevelt and the last to survive, had ceded				to immense expanses of land, he considerably
the mansion and its grounds to the Wilderstein				expanded the property's boundaries. Their own, and
Preservation in 1983, a not-for-profit educational				eldest, son, Robert. R. Livingston, Jr., was a prominent
institution. Today, it is listed on the National Register of				and highly influential figure who, as one of the
Historic Places.				Committee of Five, drafted the Declaration of
4. Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome				Independence, served as the first US Minister of
Located on tiny, easily-missed Norton Road on the				Foreign Affairs, specifically as Secretary of State, and
east side of the Hudson River not far from the village				Chancellor of New York, under whose title he gave
of Rhinebeck itself, Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome offers				oath of office to George Washington as the nation's
a time portal to the grass fields and fabric-covered				first president.
aircraft which represent the first "sprout" of aviation a				Because of the Livingston family's involvement in
century ago.				fostering independence, British troops targeted and
Its own seed had been planted when Cole Palen,				burned the mansion in the autumn of 1777, but
having earned his airframe and powerplant license				Margaret Beekman Livingston, who had managed it,
form the now defunct Roosevelt Aviation School on				had it reconstructed during the three-year period
Long Island, purchased six airplanes offered for sale by				between 1779 and 1782.
its museum in order to vacate the area for the				Developed for agricultural purposes, it was the site of
pending Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall.				experimental sheep breeding and yield-increasing crop
After storage in an abandoned chicken coop on the				methods, attracting national attention.
Palen farm in Rhinebeck, the six aircraft, which				A more elaborate house, in an "H" configuration, had
encompassed a 1917 SPAD XII, a 1918 Standard J-1, a				been constructed south of the original one in 1792, but
1914 Avro 504K, a 1918 Curtiss Jenny, a 1918 Sopwith				was decimated by flames in 1909.
Snipe 7F1, and a 1918 Aeromarine 39B, had formed his				Serving as Thomas Jefferson's Minister to France
initial fleet and the "aerodrome" had been a				from 1801 to 1804, Chancellor Livingston negotiated the
1,000-foot-long, rocky, swamp-drained clearing called a				Louisiana Purchase in Paris, and later jointly designed
"runway" and a single crude building serving as a				the world's first steamboat with Robert Fulton. Making
"hangar" on a patch of farmland he had subsequently				its inaugural voyage from New York to Albany in 1807,
purchased. Additional aircraft acquisitions-and parts of				it reduced the journey by land to less than half the time
them-had expanded the mostly biplane lineup, after				and paved the way toward the Fulton Steamboat
considerable restoration and reconstruction.				Company and the lucrative transport of passengers
Three metal, quonset hut-like hangars, built between				and cargo along the Hudson River.
1963 and 1964 and located at the top of a small hill				After having been willed to the chancellor's oldest
above the main dirt-and-grass parking lot, house				daughter, the estate received considerable addition and
Pioneer, World War I, and Lindbergh era aircraft today,				modification, and in the 1920s, John Henry Livingston
across from a new museum facility and a small gift				and his wife, Alice Delafield Clarkson Livingston,
shop. But the aerodrome itself, on the other side of				remodeled it in the Colonial Revival style.
Norton Road, is accessed by a wooden covered				Dwelling there between her husband's death and the
bridge which serves more than just an entrance to the				onslaught of the Second World War, she then moved
grass field, but as the time portal itself to the				to the gardener's cottage, unable to maintain its costly
barnstorming era of aviation, an historical dimension				upkeep, although it was usually opened during holidays
somehow arrested and preserved in time beyond its				and special occasions.
boundaries.				Deeded to New York State in 1967, it was
The hangers, as if ignorant of the calendar, proudly				subsequently designated a National Historic Landmark
brave the winds, bearing such names as Albatros				in 1973, and today appears as it did in the early
Werke, Royal Aircraft Factory Farnborough, A.V. Roe				20th-century when it had been occupied by Mr. And
and Company, Ltd., and Fokker. But it is the multitude				Mrs. John Henry Livingston and their daughters, Honoria
of mono-, bi-, and triplanes which most fiercely				and Janet, the last two generations to have lived there.
wrestles with one's present-time conception.				A Visitor's Center, located a short walk from the
The current air show program, which runs from				actual mansion, features a museum with a model of
mid-June to mid-October, features the "History of				the first steamboat, a gift shop and bookstore, and an
Flight" show on Saturdays, with pioneer aircraft such				introductory film.
as the Bleriot XI, the Curtiss D "Pusher," and the				8. Conclusion
Hanriot, while the "World War I" show on Sundays				A visit to the Village and Town of Rhinebeck, along
includes designs such as the Albatros, the Avro 504K,				with its many significant sights, is an immersion into the
the Caudron G.III, the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny, the Fokker				historic inns, bed-and-breakfasts, antiques and artwork,
D.VII, the Fokker Dr.I, the Nieuport II, the Sopwith Camel,				architecturally-bold and barn-like theaters, vintage
the SPAD VII, the Davis D1W, the de Havviland Tiger				aviation, and earlier-century aristocratic estate life of
Moth, and the Great Lakes 2T-1R.				the region, all with the azure backdrop of the Hudson
Biplane rides in four-passenger New Standard D-25s				River and the green silhouettes of the Catskill
are given before and after the shows, while viewers				Mountains rising beyond it.
can admire the fleet either in hangars or on the grass

Flash It

A Tourist Guide to Rhinebeck, New York

Articles