Olana was the eclectic home of Frederic Edwin Church and his wife Isabel. Frederic was one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. The mansion was designed by Mr. Church in conjunction with architect Calvert Vaux and built between 1870 and 1872. A studio wing was added in 1889.

Cold Spring, like many other area villages and towns was a major industrial site. Today, the short Main Street lined with historic buildings containing a collection of restaurants, cafes and shops

The Mohonk Mountain House is a historic and iconic resort located in the Catskill Mountain on the Shawangunk Ridge, on the shores of Lake Mohonk, near New Paltz, New York.

Boscobel is a historic house museum located in Garrison, New York. It was built between 1804 and 1808 as the dream house of wealthy Loyalist, States Morris Dyckman in Montrose, New York.

Tucked away along the banks of the Hudson River is Washington Irving’s charming home called Sunnyside.

The unique colorful facades of Tannersville’s Main Street was the vision of local artist Elena Patterson. The Hunter Foundation implemented the “Paint Program” is supported by local residents and corporate sponsors. This all started back in 2003 and was seen as a prospect of Tannersville’s economic rebirth.

The story of Kykuit began with philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and the estate he built that was home to four generations of the Rockefeller family. The 40-room Georgian-style historic home in Pocantico Hills was built in 1913.

Ruth Livingston Mills and Ogden Mills owned homes in Paris, Newport, Manhattan and California, but it is this 65-room Beaux-Arts Gilded Age mansion that five generations of Livingstons lived and entertained. The 40,000 square foot mansion was originally a smaller house, built in 1832 and greatly altered and expanded to what it is today.

The home of Thomas Cole, Cedar Grove, is located in Upstate New Yorkvillage of Catskill. Cole was an English painter, known for his landscape paintings. He first arrived here in 1825 on a sketching trip.

The Lyndhurst mansion was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in the Gothic Revival-style. The 67-acre estate landscape design was the work of Ferdinand Mangold. The Tarrytown estate had three resident families: the Pauldings, the Merritts and the Goulds.

The Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum was the first library solely dedicated to a President of the United States, and is located on the grounds of the family estate, Springwood. Located a short distance from Springwood was Val-Kil. Eleanor Roosevelt considered Val-Kil to be her first real home.

Wilderstien, is a Hudson Valley house museum that was occupied by three generations of the Suckley family, in Rhinebeck, NY. Thomas Suckley was a descendant of two prominent New York families: the Beekmans and Livingstons.

The town of Saugerties is popular now because they have the right mix of high-quality shops and restaurants, cool art and architecture and the outdoors with hiking trails. There is something for everyone in this town nestled between the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. Saugerties, like many Hudson Valley towns, lost many manufacturing jobs, but have been on the upswing with popularity.

The village of Catskill, a historic river town located along the banks of the mighty Hudson, was incorporated in 1806. New Yorkers would head to the Borscht Belt to sunbathe, swim, dance, and dine during the summer months and the area soon became known as the Jewish vacationland.

Hudson, named for the famous English explorer Henry Hudson, has seen it all. It started as a busy river port town, then a center of inspiration for landscape painters leading to the Hudson River School.

In 1895, Frederick W. Vanderbilt purchased the Langdon estate, comprised of 153 acres, a structurally unsound house, a farm and 459 acres on the east side of Post Road. Hyde Park was the name of the stately home he commissioned for himself and his wife, Louise and it was built between 1896 and 1899 on approximately 600 acres. The mansion on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, N.Y., this was one of several homes owned by the couple.

Did you ever notice a castle on an island in the Hudson River between Cold Spring and Beacon, NY? Well, I did, and it piqued my interest, and I wanted to know more.