Photography by Peter Aaron
“About an hour this side of Albany is the center of the World,” Frederic Church wrote in a letter in 1869. He was referring to Olana, his 250-acre Hudson estate that’s now a National Historic Landmark. Standing at its summit, it’s hard to disagree.
You’ll get your first hint of what he meant before you even get there. As you approach from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, you’ll see the tall towers of his home—a castle-like blend of Victorian- and Persian-inspired architecture—reaching skyward through the trees. The property was named Olana after an ancient Greek geographer’s recounting of “Olane,” a treasure-storehouse on the river Araxes with views of Mount Ararat.
What you can’t see from this vantage point is the landscape Church spent decades of his life architecting. It’s all waiting for you to explore via five miles of rolling carriage roads, each of which offers the “surprises” Church was known for. The North Road is one example, building anticipation with a series of wooded switchbacks that amplify the final reveal of a composed scene at the top. This idea plays out all across the estate, where scenes reveal themselves as a painting would—foreground, midground, and background all considered and intentionally created.
It’s the kind of thing that only a passionate and dedicated mind could come up with—qualities Church embodied to the nth degree. Not only did he pick up where his mentor Thomas Cole left off as a leading Hudson River School painter, but he also played a vital role in helping foster artistic and preservation communities. He was a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His art and advocacy helped establish Niagara Falls as the country’s first state park. He hosted creative luminaries of the time, like Mark Twain, who was routinely wowed by Church’s work. Today, his art can be found around the world, from Olana to more than 70 other museums, including the Met in New York City and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
This year marks Church’s 200th birthday, making it an especially good time to visit visit Olana and learn more about the man dubbed America’s greatest landscape artist. A full slate of events are planned in his honor, including the bicentennial exhibition of his artwork, Frederic Church: Global Artist, currently on view through October 25, 2026.
Plan Your Day
Olana State Historic Site
Free admission to grounds daily from 8:30am–sunset
Pack a picnic, meander past a lake that took Church 20 years to dig, and lunch at the top of Crown Hill Road—it was intended for just this purpose, giving you a sweeping view of the old farmland below. Save the western summit behind the house (labeled Walk “A” on Olana maps) for golden hour, when you can watch the sun slip behind the Catskills as you relax on a handmade mountain laurel bench.
Landscape & Home Tours at Olana
From $12, Tuesday–Sunday from 10am–4pm
Fill the day with guided tours that explore the property and Church’s house—the docents are a trove of fascinating facts. This year’s bicentennial celebration includes a tour of the current art exhibition, featuring some of Church’s most rarely seen work. Check olana.org for a full list of FC 200 events and tour specifics.
The Hudson River Skywalk
Free and accessible from dawn–dusk
Traveling by foot is the best way to soak in the scenes that inspired the Hudson Valley’s most prolific landscape painters. Pick up the Skywalk from Olana and it will lead you three miles one way (right past Whitecliff Vineyards, in case you need a tasting room pitstop). You’ll head over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and land at the home and studio of Church’s teacher, Thomas Cole.
Thomas Cole National Historic Site
$20, Wednesday–Sunday from 11am–4pm
Like Olana, Thomas Cole National Historic Site’s grounds are free to visit (dogs are welcome!), but you’ll need a ticket to check out the historic buildings and permanent exhibitions. Now through December, experience An American Visionary, an installation of works by Thomas Cole that explores his evolution into an artist of international renown, and LIFE CYCLES, a visual dialogue of two female artists across three centuries: Emily Cole, Thomas Cole’s daughter, and 21st century artist Valerie Hegarty.
Mawignack Preserve
Free and accessible from dawn–dusk
While the panoramic Catskill views from Cole’s home will give you insight into his work, you can drive less than two miles down the road from his house to a 144-acre nature preserve along Catskill Creek to see more of the artist’s inspiration up close. Discover the same landscape Cole once walked and sketched with interpretive panels that reveal the history of the land over time.
