Viewshed Tour: Locations

Viewshed \ˈvyü-ˌshed\ n.: The natural environment that is visible from one or more viewing points. 

 

Tour  |  Locations  |  Schedule  |  Tickets  |  Photos

The Olana Viewshed tour will take you to a number of different properties within the Olana viewshed. The Olana partnership and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation have joined with local landowners, who have invited us to visit and enjoy their wonderful landscapes and beautiful views. A special viewshed gathering imediately following the tour will be held in a restored historic barn on a private farm.

                                   
 DOME FARM  includes an 1870s Calvert Vaux-designed home built for Henry Q. and Mary Elizabeth Mack at the urging of Mrs. Mack's cousin Frederic Church.

 THE HILL was originally developed by Henry Walter Livingston in 1801. With a unique perspective of Olana, today The Hill is known for its Catskill and Berkshire Mountain views, a spectacular Palladian barn, horses and a sixty-acre lake.

                                    
 SHAKESPEARE ON THE HUDSON is the former outdoor stage built into a    natural amphitheater under a canopy of black walnut trees with the Hudson  River as a backdrop. A long and scenic drive leads you to this glorious spot.

 CATWALK is a historic Catskill estate overlooking the Hudson River. It was built in 1865 by landscape painter Charles Herbert Moore and features bird's eye views of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and Olana.






 RIVER SCHOOL FARM on Blue Hill has been protected as part of the Olana Viewshed. Its 1830s farmhouse, apple orchard, and new hillside lookour provide full views of the fountains, Olana, nearby river-towns, and beyond.






  PLEROMA FARM is a biodynamic farm and theraputic retreat nestled at the foot of Olana. It features a straw-bale barn, Dutch Belted cows, Cornish-Rock hens, and sells organic meants, eggs, and raw milk.
 





 SILVERMAN VIEW with its panormaic vista of the Hudson River and Olana, has an early stone farmhouse and 1743 barn restored in 1988 perched above the RamsHorn-Livingston Sanctuary's 436 protected acres.  






 LYNLEE sits on protected Olana Viewshed land and directly abuts Olana's historic landscape. The porperty boasts the closest view of Frederic Church's Persian-inspired mansion. 

  

                           
 Viewshed Benefit Party at
 HILL HOUSE FARM includes an 1850 farmhouse and an early barn set amidst vast meadows and old cherry trees on 88 protected acres. It sits on the western slope of Blue Hill. Further west, the Catskill range is reflected in a five-acre pond.
 



 CEDAR GROVE:
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is the prologue to the Olana story. 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. 

                                          

 
 BEATTIE-POWERS PLACE: James Powers, a prominent businessman and state Assemblyman, buildt the house with sweeping views of the Hudson River and Olana in 1839. It remained in his family for more than one hundred years. In the 1990's Mary Dean Beattie bequeathed the property to the Village of Catskill and its residents. Freinds of Beattie-Powers have generously agreed to open the house and property to Viewshed Tour participants.