This year, 2018, marks the 200th anniversary of artist Thomas Cole’s first Atlantic crossing, when he emigrated from England to the United States in 1818. Cole’s 1836 painting of the Oxbow is a familiar scene of the Connecticut River looking west from Mt. Holyoke. It’s considered his seminal landscape painting and spurred the development of  the Hudson River School of artists, including Frederick Church. The Oxbow painting and similar landscapes by other artists like Church, Bierstadt and Cropsey helped inspire the American land conservation movement that continues to this day.

On Friday, June 8, join us for an opportunity to gain insights into these two towering figures in American landscape art by taking a day-trip to the homes of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church in Catskill, NY. Our first stop in the morning will be a guided group tour of the Thomas Cole House, a national historic site.  After that, we will drive a short distance to Church’s home, Olana State Historic Site, for a picnic box lunch, followed by a tour of the house and a special landscape tour. The scenery in this area of the Hudson River is lovely, and it is easy to understand its inspirational quality for these two masters.

Please note: This tour requires participants to be able to climb stairs and walk on uneven ground. To be as energy efficient as possible, we will travel by carpool leaving from Sheldon Field parking area in Northampton at 8 am. We will be returning to Northampton by approximately 6 pm that evening.

Tickets for this program are $68 per person. This includes the costs of all three guided tours, an individualized catered box lunch, and $5 towards gas/tolls for carpool drivers. $5 goes to support Kestrel Land Trust.

Space is limited to 20 participants.