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Seven Salon Spa

Cupboards and Roses

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Travel Essentials

Amtrak Empire Service between Albany, Hudson or Rhinecliff, NY and Penn Station, NYC

Amtrak 449 Lake Shore Limited between Pittsfield and South Station, Boston

Bonanza Bus Lines between Williamstown, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, MA, or Canaan, CT and Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC

Mega-bus between Albany and Ridgewood, N.J. and Penn Station, NYC

Metro-North Railroad between Wassaic, Dover Plains, or Poughkeepsie, NY and Harlem (125th Street)  or Grand Central Station, NYC

Peter Pan Bus Lines between *Albany, Great Barrington, *Lee, Lenox, *Pittsfield, Stockbridge, Williamstown and Boston South Station and Boston Logan Airport  (*greater frequency, better fares)

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The price of gas at many of the stations in your zip code and those immediately surrounding it. 

Historic Homes, Museums & Gardens

Adams, MA
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace & Museum

Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Montgomery Place
A 434-acre intact Hudson River Valley estate

Athens, NY

Howard Hall Farm a laboratory for restoration training

Austerlitz, NY

Old Austerlitz

Catskill, NY

Cedar Grove home of Hudson River School founder, painter Thomas Cole

Germantown, NY

Clermont an early Hudson River estate

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Olana home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church

Hudson, NY

The American Museum of Firefighting

Hyde Park, NY

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Home of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

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The Vanderbilt Mansion relic of the Gilded Age

Kent, CT

Sloane Stanley Museum artist’s studio and tool collection

Kinderhook, NY

U. S. President Martin Van Buren house

Lenox, MA

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
The Mount Edith Wharton’s estate and gardens

Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio Cubist paintings in a Modernist house

Ventfort Hall the Gilded Age Museum

Old Chatham, NY

Shaker Museum and Library

Pittsfield, MA

Hancock Shaker Village

Arrowhead home of Herman Melville.

Rhinebeck, NY

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome aircraft and auto museum; air shows

Wilderstein Historic Site elaborate Queen-Anne style house of the Suckleys. 

Poughkeepsie, NY

Locust Grove home of Samuel F.B. Morse

Sheffield, MA

Ashley House c. 1735 house; oldest in Berkshire County

Staatsburgh, NY

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Mills Mansion house remodeled in Beaux Arts style by McKim, Mead & White

Stockbridge, MA

Chesterwood Estate & Museum home of Lincoln memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French

Mission House 1739 house with Colonial Revival garden

Rural Intelligence Road Trips
Naumkeag McKim, Mead & White summer cottage and gardens

Williamstown, MA

The Folly at Field Farm Modernist house and sculpture garden

[See more Excursion articles]

Old Houses, New Life: The Ancram Historic House Tour

Rural Intelligence Road TripsAncram is one of those off-the-beaten track towns that feels more remote than it actually is. For the most part, the residents like it that way, but they are also fiercely proud of their community’s history which dates back to pre-Revolutionary days when it was home to the Ancram iron forge.  To ensure that the town’s historic character is not lost by development or neglect, a group of locals founded the Ancram Preservation Group eight years ago because they believe “that a significant part of the community’s identity is embodied in its historical structures which serve as a living testament to the shared heritage of this community, and whose sense of ‘place’  is dependent upon maintaining the physical fabric of its past.”

To support their work, the group is sponsoring the Ancram Historic House Tour this Saturday and encouraging outsiders to discover the town’s many charms. The five residences include a hilltop Georgian built by a Revolutionary War Captain that has virtually all of its original details, including 12-over-12 windows and wide-board floors; an 1851 Greek Revival farmhouse owned by two artists who have given it their own distinctive spin; a late 19th century farmhouse that has been updated with a new kitchen featuring an AGA hearth; a 1790 house that has a painting and sculpture studio added by the current owner, an artist; an 1850 Greek Revival that was Victorianized in the late 1800s, which has a matching guest house built by the current owners.

The tour is meant to be a social occasion, too,  and there’s a wine-and-cheese reception afterwards at Simon’s General Store from 4 - 5:30.

Rural Intelligence Home and Garden Ancram Preservation Tour
October 25, 2008; noon - 4 PM

Tour and reception, Non-members: $45
Tour and reception, Members: $40
Tour only, Non-members: $35
Tour only, Members: $30

To reserve tickets: 518.398.6435
Tickets available at the Ancram Town Hall after 11 AM on October 25; the town hall is at 1416 County Route 7, one-quarter mile north of the blinking light at the intersection with Route 82.

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Posted by Dan Shaw on 10/22/08 at 10:05 AM • Permalink