Excursions

Community

Empire State of Mind: New York Heritage Weekend Is Here

Frederick Church’s quirky, Persian-inspired homestead, Olana, grandly set atop a hill for the kind of Hudson River Valley view that inspired so many of the painters’ contemporaries (i.e., the Hudson River School), is the ideal starting point for New York Heritage Weekend, May 19 and 20. Established in

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Community

Whose Omi Is it Anyway?

Omi International Arts Center in Ghent has serious ivory-tower cred. Among the most selective artists' retreats in this country, Omi stands out for its reach beyond U.S. borders for applicants. Perhaps that's because its founder, Francis Greenburger, son of Sanford J. Greenburger, the legendary literary agent

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Community

The Hyde Park Trail: History in Motion

by Kathryn Matthews “If beauty is good for the soul, then I wish I could have taken the whole world to walk with me early Saturday morning in the woods at Hyde Park,” Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote of her restorative walks at Val-Kill, her Dutchess County retreat. Dogwood trees in

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Community

The Wassaic Project: A Pop-Up Museum and Pizza, Too

"Everybody is asking if this is an art installation or a real pizza oven," said Angelo Womack, who was splitting wood on Wednesday outside Maxon Mills (below), which is the headquarters for the third iteration of the Wassaic Project Summer Festival. "This is a real wood-fired oven.

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Community

Art Studio Tour to Benefit Library

Nothing compares with seeing art and crafts in the environment in which they were produced.  Unlike galleries, which are intentionally sterile so as not to compete for attention with the work, artists' studios are rife with clues.    Among the dozen-plus studios that will be open to the public this

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Community

Zip-lining: Adventure in the Treetops

by Betsy Miller In 2009, there were 62 ziplines in the United States.  Two years later, there are about 200, three of them in our area.  Investors, get out your checkbooks.  Treetop zipping is coming to a neighborhood near you. The use of cables and harnesses to transport people between

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Community

To the Lighthouse: An Interview with Emily Brunner

by Betsy MillerOn Saturday, July 9th, a Hudson Cruise Boat departs from the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park in Hudson on the hour every hour between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. for the season's first regularly scheduled tours of the Hudson Athens Lighthouse.   The tour takes about

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Community

O Say, Can You See Some Fireworks

Funny how fireworks, invented by the Chinese in the 12th century, still inspire more awe and delight than anything Disney (studio and parks divisions combined) has conjured up so far.  This weekend there will be many displays, the big challenge, apart from nabbing a parking spot with a view (despite

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Community

Dan's Diary: The Berkshire/Cape Cod Connection

If you ever wondered why Ellen Spear left her plum job as president and CEO of Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, you'll understand after visiting her at the magnificent Heritage Gardens and Museums in Sandwich, MA, which is a couple of miles from the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges.

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Community

A Free Introduction to Fly Casting

by Betsy Miller “What I try to teach is this,” says Fred Moran, fly caster extraordinaire. “You have to set up a motion of the line that pulls the rod back over your shoulder.  Then, when you feel the line tug on the rod, you start the forward motion.  The

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Community

Step into the Gilded Age at the Orleton Pleasure Driving Show

In the center of Stockbridge, at the intersection of Main and Elm, there is a modest fountain, erected, according to engraving on its back, in 1881.  In front, water spits from the merry mouth of a verdigris Pan into what appears to be a watering trough for horses.  Apart from

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Community

Road Trips: Happy Birthday, Harriet

by Angeline GoreauAngeline Goreau is the author of  "Reconstructing Aphra: A Social Biography of Aphra Behn." She lives in the town of Litchfield. Harriet Beecher Stowe was fifty-one years old when Abraham Lincoln, on meeting her at the White House in 1862, declared: "So this is the

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