Great Houses on the Hudson

Olana is pretty amazing.  We drove to Hudson, via 103 and 9G, on a sunny winter day, stopping by Winter Sun and the New Paltz Farmer's Market.  Oh, I love living in a small town, where everyone you see at the Farmer's Market looks familiar and you chat with the guy who sells freshly milled flour.  There seemed to be less snow on the east side of the river.  We are on a mission to see all the big houses on the Hudson.  We have visited Springwood, the Roosevelt house, three or four times in the years since we have been in New York.  We saw the Vanderbilt house a few weeks ago and, yesterday, Olana, Frederick Church's magnificant, Moorish-ish house.  Who knew art was so lucrative, even in the Civil War years?  Of course, he started out on 3rd base, money-wise.  I was also struck with the difference in the tour styles.  The Vanderbilt house is run by the National Parks Service, with a uniformed, very informed ranger, and a limited, roam-on-your-own style.  You tour Olana with a volunteer docent - like my chum Maggie Moehringer - who knows lots of details and controls the movements of the group tightly.  So we have finished off 3 of about 15.  Happy Sunday.