Grounds Only
Adults $9
Seniors (62+) $8
Children (6-14) $5
Children (under 6) Free
Family of Four $25
    Additional $5 per person

No pets allowed.
Service dogs permitted.

Review us on TripAdvisor!

Dear Neighbors, Friends, Visitors & Browsers -

Boscobel will be going to sleep for the months of January, February and March 2012. As is our tradition, the mansion and grounds are closed to the visiting public during that time. We look forward to Boscobel’s reawakening on 1 April, with a new array of events, performances and programs, as well as old favorites like the Turtle Walk, the Big Band Concert, and the annual Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.

I am very pleased to announce that our current 15-year old website will be receiving a complete overhaul while Boscobel sleeps. We hope you will notice, and enjoy, the many improvements planned in the newly-designed website when we launch in the spring.

Boscobel is closing the season on a high note. Our visitors to the mansion for tours have doubled in December 2011 compared to 2010. No doubt the mild weather has helped. We have also enjoyed numerous sold-out events such as performances in the mansion of “A Christmas Carol” by actors from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival; a children’s holiday tea with Mr. & Mrs. Claus; our 4th of July Concert and fireworks evening that drew over 800 guests; well-attended Ghost Tours and the Music at the Mansion tours, including recitals by Czech soprano, Gabriela Mikova, and harpist, Joy Plaisted.

Boscobel is proud to be associated with the new Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The exhibition’s curator, and author of the exhibition catalogue, Peter M. Kenny, Ruth Bigelow Wriston Curator of American Decorative Arts and Administration, recently joined Boscobel’s Board of Directors. In the exhibition catalogue, Boscobel is described as “a virtual showcase of Phyfe furniture.” If you have the chance to visit the Met’s splendid show (which runs until 6 May), also make plans this spring to see Boscobel’s own New York furniture in its 1808 Federal-style mansion, accompanied by one of Boscobel’s acclaimed docents.

In an effort to become known as the premier area location for weddings and corporate events, Boscobel’s recent re-landscaping of the West Meadow, and its new seasonal pavilion, have already resulted in nearly two dozen bookings for events in 2012.

I urge you to check out Boscobel’s 50 new, five-star reviews on the popular travel website www.Tripadvisor.com to see what visitors have been saying about their visits to Boscobel.

We would like to thank the Friends of Boscobel who enhance Boscobel’s presence in the community, and who support us in many other ways with their programs and outreach. Thanks also go to the members of the local Philipstown Garden Club, which will celebrate its centennial in 2012. Volunteers from the Garden Club help maintain Boscobel’s charming herb garden during the season.

Boscobel continues to maintain the high quality of its architectural elements, furnishings and decorative arts collections, and well-maintained gardens, grounds and woodland trails, in spite of 2011’s hurricane and October storms which did considerable damage to sections of the property, but fortunately did not affect any of the buildings or their interiors. A massive 170-year old oak tree, long a backdrop staple for Shakespeare performances, was toppled in Irene’s fury, and the beautiful Woodland Trail had to be closed for the remainder of the year due to downed trees and precariously hanging “widow-makers” during the freakish Halloween weekend snowstorm.

I have now completed six months as Boscobel’s new Executive Director. I have been impressed by the enthusiasm of the Board and Staff for new ideas and fresh approaches to Boscobel’s traditional hallmarks of excellence. I look forward to keeping you informed as the year progresses and Boscobel wakens from its winter slumbers.

Happy New Year!

David A. Krol
Executive Director

~ ~ ~

“One of the most beautiful homes ever built in America…”
- NY Governor & Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1961

Boscobel, the elegant Federal period house museum set on lovely landscaped grounds with breathtaking views of the Hudson River, has been welcoming visitors to explore its man-made and natural beauty for over half a century. The fact that it remains a gleaming jewel in the Hudson River Valley’s crown is to the credit of its many stewards during that time span: its dedicated boards, its accommodating staffs, and earliest principal benefactors, Benjamin West Frazier and Lila Acheson Wallace.

Boscobel (Italian for “beautiful woods”) is situated in scenic Garrison, NY, on a bluff above the east bank, overlooking the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The mansion house, which originally stood fifteen miles down river, was completed in 1808 for the States Dyckman family and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the country.

It contains an extensive and important collection of Federal-period furniture and decorative arts, many of which were crafted by premier New York cabinetmakers such as Duncan Phyfe and Michael Allison.

The 60 acres of grounds surrounding the mansion include a beautiful rose garden, orangery, herb garden, springhouse, pond, geyser fountain and waterfall, picnic areas, and a pristine woodland trail complete with rustic cedar gazebos from which to enjoy some of the properties magnificent views of the historic and artistically-celebrated Hudson River scenery.

Tours of the mansion are conducted by knowledgeable docents, and include passes for the grounds and gardens; separate grounds-only admission is also available.

Boscobel’s busy calendar of events from April through December, includes special exhibitions in the mansion’s Gallery, concerts, lectures, seasonal fetes and special programs for children.

The grounds may also be rented for weddings, corporate receptions and other private events.

Artists are welcomed to the grounds for painting and sketching, at no admission fee, on the second Tuesday of each month (Boscobel is open to visitors every day except Tuesday.)

We encourage you to navigate this site for more details about Boscobel, its fascinating history, its dramatic rescue and restoration, and its many opportunities to enjoy what is truly one of the most informative, rejuvenating and enjoyable sites in the entire Hudson Valley.

All photos by Charles T. Lyle unless otherwise noted.

Boscobel is closed
until April 1, 2012

***

~ Boscobel for Your Private Function ~
Whether it’s a board meeting, an intimate dinner party or an annual gala event, Boscobel is the perfect venue. Click here for details.

Mission Statement
The mission of Boscobel House and Gardens is to enrich the lives of its visitors with memorable experiences of the history, culture and environment of the Hudson River Valley.