What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley, June 6-7

HUDSON VALLEY―The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) announces What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley featuring more than twenty free, expert-led tours of parks, gardens, and open spaces in New York State’s Upper Hudson Valley.

These tours, slated for June 6-7, enable people to discover the design history of places they may pass every day but don’t necessarily know about. Expert guides provide rich stories, personal anecdotes, and keen observations about each site, landscape architecture, city shaping, and garden design.

The tour sites include Olana State Historic Site, Underground Railroad Education Center, Mountain Top Arboretum, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Art Omi Pavilions.

“Olana is one of the most significant and intact artist-designed landscapes in the country, and we are thrilled to participate in TCLF’s What’s Out there Weekend to bring more attention and new audiences to experience Frederic Church’s masterwork,” Sean Sawyer, the Washburn and Susan Oberwager President, The Olana Partnership.

All tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

In addition to the tours, TCLF will produce a printed What’s Out There Upper Hudson Valley guidebook that includes all of the tour sites (available for purchase and free as a downloadable PDF). The guide includes an illustrated history of the region’s cultural landscape heritage, with 85 individual site entries, and biographies of more than 65 designers who collectively shaped the landscapes that people in Mid- and Upper Hudson move through every day.  

Tour Schedule

Saturday, June 6

Oakwood Cemetery | 10 a.m. to noon | Led by Heidi Klinowski (Friends of Oakwood Cemetery)

University at Albany, Uptown Campus / State University of New York | 10 a.m. to noon | Led by Ray Bromley, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus (University at Albany / SUNY); Jason Kersch (University at Albany / SUNY)

Washington Park |10-11:30 a.m. | Led by Tom Pfeiffer (Washington Park Advisory Committee)

Graceland Cemetery |10-11 a.m. | Led by Steve Reilly (Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation)

Olana State Historic Site - The Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape |10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Led by Thomas L. Woltz, FASLA, CLARB (Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects); Adam Yarinsky, FAIA (Architecture Research Office)

Steepletop |11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Led by Mark O’Berski (The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society Board of Trustees)

Ten Broeck Mansion |12 – 12:50 p.m. | Led by Representatives of Albany County Historical Association—Ten Broeck Mansion

Olana State Historic Site | 1 – 2:30 p.m. | Led by Thomas L. Woltz, FASLA, CLARB (Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects)

Underground Railroad Education Center | 1-2 p.m. | Led by Mary Liz Stewart (Underground Railroad Education Center)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 2 – 3:30 p.m. | Led by John Kolb (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); Robert Carney (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); Andrew White (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Swinburne Park and Bleecker Stadium | 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. | Led by Tony Opalka (City of Albany)

Art Omi | 2:30 – 4 p.m. | Led by Jeremy Adams (Art Omi)

Mountain Top Arboretum | 3 – 4:30 p.m. | Led by Jamie Purinton (Jamie Purinton Landscape Architect); Sammy Winderman (Mountain Top Arboretum)

Promenade Hill Park | 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. | Led by Gail Wittwer-Laird, FAAR (Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners)

Public Square / 7th Street Park | 4:45– 5:15 p.m. | Led by Gail Wittwer-Laird, FAAR (Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners)

Sunday, June 7

Prospect Park | 10 a.m. to noon | Led by Kathy T. Sheehan (Rensselaer County & City of Troy; Hart Cluett Museum)

Thomas Cole National Historic Site | 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Led by Beth Wynne (Thomas Cole National Historic Site)

Art Omi Pavilions | 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Led by Francis Greenburger (Art Omi)

Albany Rural Cemetery | 1 – 2:30 p.m. | Led by Michael Radlick, Ph.D. (Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery); Lynn Radlick, Ph.D. (Friends of the Albany Rural Cemetery)

Lincoln Park | 1-2 p.m. | Led by Tony Opalka (City of Albany)

Empire State Plaza and New York State Capitol Grounds | 2-3 p.m. | Led by Allan Greller (The Cultural Landscape Foundation)

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site | 2 – 3:30 p.m. | Led by Megan O’Malley (National Park Service, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site); Jared Muehlbauer (National Park Service, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site)

Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook | 4-5 p.m. | Led by Kate Johnson (Historians of Columbia County New York, Village of Kinderhook); Warren Applegate (Persons of Color Cemetery at Kinderhook); Hollis Seamon, Ph.D. (Retired, The College of Saint Rose); and Representatives from the African American Archive of Columbia County

“By making the people and stories behind these landscapes visible and bringing to life their unique value and civic contributions for all, we can better understand where we’ve come from as a community and where we are going,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s president and CEO.

For more information, visit https://www.tclf.org/whats-out-there-weekend-upper-hudson-valley.

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