BOSCOBEL'S NEWS & UPDATES


Clang Clang Went The Trolley!

Beginning June 3, 2006 a new trolley service will connect Boscobel with the train stations in both Cold Spring and Garrison. The trolley will run Fridays through Sundays, originating near the Cold Spring Metro-North station. Stops will also include shops on Cold Spring’s main street and other cultural attractions along the Cold Spring-Garrison-Bear Mountain Bridge route 9D.

The service costs just a dime (a nickel for seniors) and is being provided by Putnam County. For trolley schedules call Boscobel at 845-265-3638, ext. 115 or the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce at 845-265-3200. For Metro-North train schedules from New York City’s Grand Central Station to Garrison and Cold Spring call 1-800-METRO-INFO.

What a fun way to get to Boscobel!



Boscobel Appoints New Executive Director

( Garrison, New York, December 2005) The Board of Directors of Boscobel has announced the appointment of Geoffrey Platt, Jr. of Richmond, Virginia as Executive Director, effective April 1, 2006.

Platt leaves his post of Executive Director of the Maymont Foundation, Richmond, Virginia, where he oversees the 104-acre museum and park complex, a site that includes an 1893 house museum, a carriage collection, formal gardens, a nature/visitor center, native wildlife habitats and a children’s farm.

Mr. Platt’s former associations include Director of Government Affairs, American Association of Museums, and also Executive Director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, both located in Washington, D.C.; Director of the Arts Council of (Greater) New Orleans, Louisiana; and Director of Program Development, the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, Denver, Colorado.

Upon accepting his appointment as Executive Director, Mr. Platt said, “I am excited about the prospect of working for Boscobel, and I am looking forward to working with some wonderful people and to moving the institution forward.”

Mr. Platt’s experience also includes serving as Chief of Staff for Representative Michael L. Strang (R-CO), U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.; Associate Dean, Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen, Colorado; Manager, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Newark, New Jersey; Assistant Manager, Recital Series, “Great Performers at Philharmonic Hall,” Lincoln Center, New York.

Commenting upon Mr. Platt’s appointment, Barnabas McHenry, President of Boscobel Restoration, said, “Boscobel is indeed fortunate in every respect that Geoff Platt will join us as Executive Director. The Board of Directors is delighted to welcome Geoff Platt and his wife, Hope, to the Hudson River Valley in 2006.” Geoffrey Platt, Jr., was born in New York City, raised in Mount Kisco, New York, and is married to the former Hope G. Forsyth. Mr. Platt studied at Harvard University where he received both his B.A. and M.B.A. degrees.

Boscobel, a Hudson River landmark, was opened to the public in 1961. The museum has been acclaimed an outstanding example of Federal domestic architecture and houses an extraordinary collection of Federal decorative arts.

Boscobel is located on Scenic Route 9D, Garrison, New York.

Boscobel is Honored as a Partner in the Putnam County _“Preserve America Award”

“Preserve America” is a White House initiative to encourage and support community preservation efforts. On January 15, 2004, in a special White House ceremony at which Laura Bush presided, Putnam County was designated as a “Preserve America Community,” one of a select few municipalities in the United States to be chosen for this national designation. “Preserve America promotes cultural and natural preservation and encourages greater appreciation of our heritage.” Laura Bush, Washington, D. C. January 2004.

On October 15, 2005, Bernadette Castro, the New York State Commissioner of Parks, Recreation, & Historic Preservation, along with other local dignitaries, unveiled “Preserve America” signs at Boscobel and at seven other historic locations in Putnam County, including Cold Spring’s Main Street; Our Lady of Restoration Chapel; the Putnam County Historical Society & Foundry School Museum; the West Point Foundry; Constitution Island; Garrison’s Landing, and Manitoga. These historic sites were honored as partners in the “Preserve America” designation for their efforts in preserving their community’s historical heritage.


photo credit: Carmine A. Serino, Jr.

From left to right: Carolin Serino, Acting Director, Boscobel Restoration; Betsy Pugh, Board of Directors, Boscobel Restoration; Bernadette Castro, NYS Commissioner of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation; and Vinny Tamagna, Putnam County Legislator


Boscobel Invites Artists on Tuesdays

Boscobel Restoration, in its elegant setting with breathtaking views of the Hudson and the Highlands, has for years been an inspiration to artists from the surrounding Hudson Valley area. And in the spirit of encouragement, Boscobel began “Artists on Tuesdays.” On the second Tuesday of each month, Boscobel opens its grounds so that artists can paint or draw undisturbed. Admission is free to artists and photographers, and anyone interested may register by calling 845-265-3638, Extension 115.

Spectacular views of the Hudson River and the Hudson Highlands, including Crow’s Nest, Storm King, and Sugar Loaf Mountains, are visible from Boscobel’s grounds.The Hudson has been a fascination for artists through the centuries, and great works by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Doughty, Thomas P. Rossiter, and Frederic Church, have depicted the majesty of the River and its surroundings.

For additional information on Boscobel or “The Artist on Tuesdays” program, please call 845-265-3638, Extension 115.


Boscobel Acquires pair of pier tables (c.1815-1819)

Through a loan acquisition from The Museum of the City of New York, Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York, has recently acquired a fine pair of pier tables (c.1815-1819), attributed to Charles-Honoré Lannuier. The tables are a valuable complement to Boscobel’s furniture collection by Duncan Phyfe, Michael Allison and other contemporary New York cabinetmakers. The marble top and carved and gilded caryatids marked these tables as being the most lavish and luxurious available to wealthy New Yorkers in the early 1800’s.

The pier tables, now on display in Boscobel’s grand Entrance Hall, relate to a suite of curule seating furniture in the front drawing room and attributed to Duncan Phyfe. The loan acquisition is important because it has reunited the curule seating furniture with the pier tables, which, in 1815, decorated the home of Nathanial Prime, a wealthy New York merchant who resided at One Broadway, in lower Manhattan. The tables also highly dramatize the importance of the Entrance Hall.

Charles-Honoré Lannuier emigrated from France in the Spring of 1803 and established his cabinetmaking business in New York City, where he worked from 1804 until his death in 1819. Lannuier promoted himself as a “Parisian cabinetmaker,” specializing in veneered furniture. Over time, Lannuier fused the new French Empire style with the English preferences of his New York clientele to produce what is sometimes called, “American Empire.”

For additional information about the acquisition, call Judith Pavelock, Boscobel’s Collection Manager at 845-265-3638, Extension 131. Boscobel is located on Scenic Route 9D, eight miles north of the Bear Mountain Bridge and about fifty miles from mid-town New York.



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