1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (46 page)

Manhattan’s Perfect Weekend Getaway

New York

Astorybook village just inland of the Hudson River, Rhinebeck is a perfect weekend getaway for Manhattan’s—or anyone’s—serenity-seeking crowd. One of its strongest draws is the Omega Institute
, the nation’s largest holistic learning center. Located just miles outside town, this 195-acre campus is a sort of spiritual summer camp for adults. Guests follow their bliss by writing poetry with Sharon Olds, taking yoga classes with Rodney Yee, or unlocking the hidden dimensions of their life with Deepak Chopra.

Just outside the village near the river, the glorious 1888 Queen Anne mansion called Wilderstein, with Tiffany windows and a dramatic five-story circular tower, was home to three generations of Suckleys (related to the prominent Livingstons and Beekmans, whose estate houses were in the Hudson Valley from the 17th century to the 19th). Miss Margaret
Lynch Suckley (known as Daisy) gave Franklin Delano Roosevelt his famous Scottie, Fala, and lived here until she died at the age of 100 in 1991. The home provides a fascinating social history of the rise and gentle decline of one prominent Hudson Valley family.

The village of Rhinebeck is a treasure trove of Manhattan-worthy boutiques, restaurants, antiques shops, even a spa, all within a couple blocks of the Beekman Arms, a colonial-era inn that claims to be the oldest continuously running inn in America. It began catering to travelers in 1766 (George Washington slept there), and FDR began every one of his successful campaigns for governor and president from the white-pillared front porch. Just down the street, the Beekman Arms also runs the Delamater Inn, an 1844 masterpiece of the American Gothic movement designed by Andrew Jackson Downing.

A few miles to the north, the stunningly beautiful Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a modernist palace of undulating stainless steel panels that reflect the light and colors of the sky. Designed by famed architect Frank O. Gehry, the complex of performance spaces is at its liveliest during Bard SummerScape, seven weeks of music, theater, film, and dance. One of its premier events, the longstanding Bard Music Festival, delves deeply into the work of a single great artist (Franz Liszt and Aaron Copland are among the recent subjects) each year by blending orchestral and chamber concerts with panel discussions, talks, and films.

The 110,000-square-foot Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College houses two theaters and four rehearsal studios for dance, theater, and music.

But it’s not all highbrow entertainment in these parts. The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is as close to a 1920s airfield as you can get, with hangars, hand-painted signs, and a collection of more than 100 vintage and reproduction aircraft. At weekend airshows crowds thrill to old-fashioned barnstorming and mock WWI dogfights, and you can even go for a ride in a classic open cockpit biplane with the wind in your hair and the lush beauty of the Hudson Valley below you.

Nearby Millbrook is a wealthy insider’s town, a polished enclave of rural estates and dignified horse farms where residents fox hunt, attend polo matches, and dine at Bullis Hall, a luxurious 1832 Greek Revival inn that is the area’s best-kept secret.

W
HERE
: 90 miles north of New York City.
Visitor info:
Tel 845-876-5904;
www.rhinebeckchamber.com
.
O
MEGA
I
NSTITUTE:
Tel 800-944-1001 or 845-266-4444.
When:
Apr–Oct.
Cost:
2 nights from $476, single occupancy, includes meals; programs extra.
W
ILDERSTEIN:
Tel 845-876-4818;
www.wilderstein.org
.
When:
Thur–Sun, May–Oct.
B
EEKMAN
A
RMS AND
D
ELAMATER
I
NN:
Tel 845-876-7077;
www.beekmandelamaterinn.com
.
Cost:
from $100.
F
ISHER
C
ENTER
: Annandale-on-Hudson. Tel 845-758-7900;
www.fishercenter.bard.edu
.
Cost:
tickets from $20.
When:
July–Aug for Bard Summerscape; 2 weekends in Aug and 1 in Oct for the Bard Music Festival.
O
LD
R
HINEBECK
A
ERODROME
: Tel 845-752-3200;
www.oldrhinebeck.org
.
When:
museum, mid-May–Oct; weekend airshow, mid-June–mid-Aug; biplane rides, Sat–Sun, June–Oct.
B
ULLIS
H
ALL:
Bangall. Tel 845-868-1665;
www.bullishall.com
.
Cost:
rooms from $325; 4-course dinner $68.
When:
closed Mar.
B
EST TIMES
: May–Oct for weather; Aug for the Bard Music Festival and the Dutchess County Fair.

A 19th-Century Queen of Spas

New York

The name Saratoga Springs has long evoked a privileged life of horse racing, polo matches, fancy hats, and genteel garden parties. This oasis of Victorian elegance, known as the “Queen of Spas,” was a summer
playground for the moneyed, thanks to its naturally carbonated springs, which can still be visited.

The elegant Saratoga Race Course, America’s oldest and loveliest sports venue, is the flower-decked town’s main attraction. A who’s who of thoroughbreds and jockeys has long made Saratoga’s summer the nation’s best racing season. Today’s main course was built in 1864, and retains a lovely Victorian grandstand. Across from the track, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame is a repository of Triple Crown trophies, diamond-encrusted whips, and interactive exhibits.

Saratoga Springs is also a cultural hotbed, especially during the summer, when the open-air Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) hosts the New York City Ballet, followed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Big-name artists from opera to pop fill out the summer season. Spring and summer is the best time for strolling the inspiring Italian classical gardens at the famous artists’ colony of Yaddo, founded in 1900 by financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina, a poet. Yaddo is the gold standard to which all others aspire and getting a residency here (up to 2 months) is still a highly sought-after plum.

Horses break from the gate at the Saratoga Race Course.

The Adelphi Hotel, built in 1877, is a mint-condition time capsule of Victorian charm, with 39 rooms full of period antiques and vintage photos of old Saratoga. Its opulent lobby and the adjacent Café Adelphi serve as a gathering place for local residents and performers from the summer arts community. Saratoga Springs also has a wealth of unusually fine inns and B&Bs, foremost among them the Batcheller Mansion Inn, a splendid example of high Victorian Gothic architecture built in 1873. President Ulysses S. Grant was once a guest here, enjoying, no doubt, its fantastic blend of architectural influences from France, Italy, and Egypt (the original owner had lived in Cairo).

About 10 miles east of town is the site of the Battles of Saratoga, the first significant military victory of the American Revolution. Replica British cannons and an interpretive trail at the Saratoga National Historical Park tell the story of how, in 1777, American forces met and defeated a major British army, leading France to recognize the independence of the U.S. and enter the war as a military ally of the struggling Americans.

W
HERE:
200 miles north of New York City.
Visitor info:
Tel 800-526-8970 or 518-584-3255;
www.saratoga.org
.
S
ARATOGA
R
ACE
C
OURSE:
Tel 518-584-6200;
www.nyracing.com/saratoga
.
M
USEUM OF
R
ACING:
Tel 518-584-0400;
www.racingmuseum.org
.
S
ARATOGA
P
ERFORMING
A
RTS
C
ENTER:
Tel 518-587-3330;
www.spac.org
.
When:
June–Sept.
Cost:
from $15.
Y
ADDO:
Tel 518-584-0746;
www.yaddo.org
.
A
DELPHI
H
OTEL:
Tel 518-587-4688;
www.adelphihotel.com
.
Cost:
from $120 (off-peak), from $205 (peak).
When:
mid-May–late Oct.
B
ATCHELLER
M
ANSION
I
NN:
Tel 800-616-7012 or 518-584-7012;
www.batchellermansioninn.com
.
Cost:
from $155 (off-peak), from $250 (peak).
S
ARATOGA
N
ATIONAL
H
ISTORICAL
P
ARK:
Tel 518-664-9821;
www.nps.gov/sara
.
B
EST TIMES
: late July–early Sept for racing season.

A Boater’s Paradise

New York

Aglittering necklace of mansion-studded outposts cast along a 50-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River, Thousand Islands is best known for the salad dressing created on board the yacht of George Boldt, one of many
wealthy New Yorkers who built lavish summer homes (called “cottages”) here beginning in the 1870s.

Today, both powerboaters and sailors are drawn to the beauty of the islands, while fishermen are attracted by the water’s bounty. Hire a local fishing guide and he can stop on one of the islands to whip up a shore dinner—the breaded pan-fried fish you just caught, with potatoes and corn on the cob (and there’s dessert too: batter-dipped bread fried in butter and topped with maple syrup, cream, and brandy). The region also affords some of the best diving outside the Caribbean, with crystal clear waters and 200 wrecks, many dating to the War of 1812.

A monument to true love, Boldt Castle has 120 rooms, a tunnel system, Italian gardens, and a drawbridge.

Thousand Islands’ most wondrous relic (and most popular tourist stop) is Boldt Castle; its lavish construction was interrupted in 1904 when hotelier George Boldt (he of the salad dressing fame) received a telegram that his wife had died. Unable to imagine the cavernous Rhineland-style palace without her, George ordered the workmen to drop their tools. Left to ruin until 1977, the castle and five other stone structures on 5-acre Heart Island have since been restored, and are now open for self-guided tours. In nearby Clayton (the region’s largest town, with a population of 4,806, is not on an island itself), the Antique Boat Museum has the continent’s largest and best collection of freshwater wooden vessels, with more than 100 on display, including a lavishly outfitted 1904 Gilded Age 110-foot houseboat. Sign up for a 1929 triple-cockpit runabout and imagine yourself a part of the Boldt entourage.