ESTATES DISTRICT SCENIC AREA OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE
I. LOCATION
The Estates District Scenic Area of Statewide Significance (SASS) consists of the Hudson River and its eastern shorelands in the Towns of Germantown and Clermont, Columbia County, and in the Towns of Red Hook, Rhinebeck and Hyde Park and the Villages of Tivoli and Rhinebeck in Dutchess County. The western half of the Hudson River lies in the Towns of Saugerties, Ulster, Esopus and Lloyd, the Village of Saugerties and the City of Kingston in Ulster County.
Cheviot Road in Cheviot Landing, Town of Germantown, constitutes the landward portion of the northern boundary which continues due west across the Hudson River to meet the western boundary. The SASS extends approximately 27 miles to south of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home National Historic Site. Its southern boundary lies 500 feet to the south of the Maritje Kill and follows the configuration of the Maritje Kill, then crosses the Hudson due west. The western boundary is the mean high water line on the west bank of the Hudson River. The eastern boundary follows NY Route 9G in Germantown, Clermont and Red Hook; NY Route 9G, Hook Road, Old Post Road and NY Route 9 in Rhinebeck; and Old Post Road and NY Route 9 in Hyde Park.
Consult the Estates District SASS map for SASS boundaries.
II. DESCRIPTION
The Estates District SASS is comprised of 29 subunits:
ED-1 Clermont, ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland, ED-3 Tivoli, ED-4 Montgomery Place/Blithewood, ED-5 Tivoli Bays, ED-6 Bard College, ED-7 Annandale-on-Hudson, ED-8 Barrytown, ED-9 Astor Point, ED-10 Astor Cove, ED-11 River Road, ED-12 Mount Rutsen, ED-13 Rhinebeck Center, ED-14 Rhinecliff Road, ED-15 Rhinecliff, ED-16 Rhinecliff Woods, ED-17 Mill Road Meadows, ED-18 Vanderburgh Cove, ED-19 Dinsmore Golf Course, ED-20 Mills State Park, ED-21 Staatsburg, ED-22 Norrie Heights, ED-23 Norrie State Park, ED-24 Vanderbilt Mansion, ED-25 Hyde Park Center, ED-26 Franklin D. Roosevelt Home Estate Entrance and ED-27 Franklin D. Roosevelt Home National Historic Site.
Together the subunits constitute a landscape of national and international significance which evolved through the development of a rich cultural heritage in an outstanding natural setting. As its name implies, the Estates District SASS is dominated by over twenty major and numerous minor historic estates and the Hudson River toward which they are oriented. The beauty of the region's landscape, including views of the Hudson and the distant Catskill Mountains, has been celebrated for generations, most notably in the paintings of the Hudson River School, the first indigenous art movement in the United States.
The Hudson River in this area is a tidal estuary whose flow reverses at high tide. The Hudson has served many functions in both pre-historic and historic times which continue in the present day -- transportation corridor, trade and migration route, water supply and nurturer of the creatures, both human and animal, which make their home in or along the river. The Hudson corridor is also part of the Atlantic flyway which brings migrating species to the numerous coves, flats and marshes.
The scenic environs and the bustling commerce generated by the Hudson River's presence have successfully coexisted for centuries. Archeological evidence has been uncovered of native shoreland settlements, and canoes were the first ferries. The native American communities called the river Mukheakunnuk, "river that flows two ways."
From colonial times this scenic landscape has attracted landed gentry, industrial magnates and historic figures who built lavish mansions. Among those who established their country seats in this area are Frederick Vanderbilt, Archibald Rogers, John Jacob Astor, Ogden Mills, Jacob Ruppert, Levi P. Morton, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, Morgan Lewis, James Roosevelt, Franklin H. Delano, Edward Livingston, Mrs. Richard Montgomery, General DePeyser, General Armstrong and others. In the hamlets and villages is found the vernacular architecture of the people who worked the land, maintained the mansions and were employed in the commercial ventures. Evidence of the bustle of earlier times is found in the remains of old docks and bridges and overgrown roads and trails.
In 1697 a single land grant called the Great Nine Partners patent incorporated approximately 149,000 acres or one-third of what is now Dutchess County. Since there were no roads at the time, the Hudson River provided the only route for transporting the lumber and furs harvested on the land. The partners were guaranteed equal access to the Hudson through the division of the shorelands into nine equal lots. The early estates such as Clermont and the Kip-Beekman house were sited close to the Hudson to facilitate the transport of agricultural products via water to the urban markets.
By the early 1800s the natural landscape became the focal point; and the main houses, sited on rolling hills and bluffs overlooking the Hudson River, were oriented to take advantage of panoramic views. The environs of the earlier houses were altered and redesigned in the romantic style, an environmentally sensitive movement that originated in New York State and provided the foundation for national trends in landscape design and the 19th century urban parks movement.
The estates and manor houses were designed by renowned architects and landscape architects including Richard Morris Hunt, Stanford White, Calvert Vaux, Andrew Jackson Downing, Charles Platt, Hans Jacob Ehlers, Alexander Jackson Davis and the Olmsted Brothers. The region has traditionally been, and largely remains, a shining example of how the human hand can carefully and creatively enhance the beauty of a natural landscape through inspired design and the highest standards of construction, maintenance and preservation. The historically harmonious blend of the built environment with the natural setting and the remarkable lack of major discordant features, despite extensive contemporary development, has yielded a remarkably well-preserved and visually unified historic landscape of both national and international significance. The numerous coves, islands, marshes and creek beds compose a varied shoreline of great interest, while the vegetative cover of forest, pasture, orchards, gardens and expansive lawns enhances the rolling topography and frames views.
Punctuating the estate landscapes and gracing the hamlet and village streetscapes are fine examples of period vernacular architecture, comprising the former homes of tenant farmers and independent farmers, mariners and storekeepers. One room schoolhouses now adapted to other uses, inns, commercial buildings and ruins of dams at former mill sites give further evidence of the history of the area and provide focal points in interior views. The fact that so much of the fabric of the natural and cultural landscape remains is unusual and serves to enrich the individual viewer's experience of the landscape by providing evocative elements to which the he or she can relate.
III. AESTHETIC SIGNIFICANCE
The Estates District SASS is of statewide aesthetic significance by virtue of the combined aesthetic values of its landscape character and its uniqueness, public accessibility and public recognition.
There exists in the SASS variety as well as unity of major landscape components and striking contrasts between lines, forms, textures and colors in the landscape. The collection of large estates with their designed landscapes, the many undisturbed natural features and the significant public historic sites and architectural treasures render this SASS unique in the Hudson River coastal area, the State and the nation. The Hudson River and its influence on the historical development of the area constitute the major unifying features. The SASS is generally free of discordant features, evidence of the strong conservation ethic operating there.
Although private estates cover most of the eastern shore of the Hudson River, the Estates District SASS is publicly accessible to a great extent, both visually and physically, from the Hudson River, from public streets and highways and from significant national and State parks and sanctuaries.
Because of the attraction these facilities create and because the SASS has been the subject of treatises and art works, surveys and designations at both the State and national level, the Estates District Scenic Area is well recognized by the public for its aesthetic values.
A. Landscape Character
1. Variety
The Estates District SASS exhibits an unusual variety of major components. The landform consists of rolling topography behind steep bluffs which drop 150 feet to the Hudson River. Mt. Rutsen, the highest point in the SASS at 350 feet above sea level, rises above the generally level terrain which surrounds it.
There is a variety of water features which contribute a myriad of linear elements to the landscape composition. The Hudson River is the dominant water body, its shoreline configuration changing throughout the SASS. Creeks, the principal ones being Stony Creek, Saw Kill, the Mudder Kill, the Landsman Kill, Fallsburgh Brook, Staatsburg Creek, the Indian Kill, Bard Rock Creek, Crum Elbow Creek and the Maritje Kill, meander through the landscape and cut deep ravines with waterfalls, particularly as they near the Hudson. The shoreline of the Hudson is characterized by coves, marshes and scattered islands along the eastern shore, Magdalen Island and Cruger Island in Red Hook being the two largest. When seen from a distance, however, the east bank shoreline appears unbroken because railroad causeways bridge the natural indentations and transform the east bank into a single fluid line.
The Hudson is alternately narrow and broad. It deepens to wind around points of land such as Crum Elbow and then spreads thinly over shallows and tidal flats. The varied depths influence the landscape at the river's edge, governing, along with the railroad causeway, the size and location of tidal marshes as well as the surface texture. In the areas of broad expanse the water is of greater visual consequence, while narrow sections of the river such as Crum Elbow cause each opposite shore to appear in certain perspectives as if not separated by water at all.
The coves vary in size, but all present an intimate waterscape rich with flora and fauna. Tivoli North and South Bays provide the broadest expanse of marsh vegetation interlaced with waterways. Other coves of note are Vanderburgh Cove and Roosevelt Cove. Because fill was used to form the railroad bed, some of the marshes were created when the causeways were built.
The rich variety of vegetative cover gives a textural diversity to the SASS and enhances both its scenic character and its ecological value. The sylvan corridors of the rural roads screen new development and maintain the scenic quality of these avenues of public access to the SASS. Specimen trees are found in estate gardens and along pasture edges, while mature street trees grace many hamlet and village streets. The pastoral countryside includes forests of both deciduous and coniferous species, cropland, pasture and orchards. Steep forested bluffs 100 feet high along the Hudson River operate as a buffer between upland development and the river, maintaining the corridor's rural character.
Land use within the SASS reflects the initial large land grants that were farmed by tenants and residents of the adjacent compact hamlets. Several estates are preserved as historic sites and parks, while others remain in private ownership. The forms of their stately manor houses and great lawns punctuate the forested river corridor, while their extensive stone walls and handsome gateways bejewel the rural roads and tease the imagination of the traveler as to what lies beyond these estate guardians.
Denser development is generally concentrated in villages and hamlets, and distinct edges are usually evident between the pastoral landscape and the settled centers. The Hudson River is regaining its former level of importance as a transportation and recreation corridor, drawing people to the waterfront and stimulating the revitalization of historic river landings.
Farming continues to be a major, though rapidly diminishing industry in the area. A significant portion of the SASS contains prime agricultural soils, and some farms have been incorporated into agricultural districts. The working landscape contributes texture and color as well as expansive open space to the landscape, background for the forms of the attendant structures such as barns, stone walls and fences which provide accents of color and form to the pastoral composition. In some parts of the SASS 100% of the land is in open space, covered by contrasting forests, wetlands, pastures and other vegetation.
The SASS exhibits a number of positive ephemeral characteristics: sleek thoroughbreds grazing on the horse farms, observable wildlife activities in the marshes, the seasonal operations of the working pastoral landscapes, the change in texture and color of the Hudson River's surface under various weather and light conditions, and the magnificent sunsets that tinge the Hudson and its marshes and silhouette the Catskill Mountains within the panoramic views to the west.
The interplay of water and land, the stately reserve of the tasteful manor houses, the friendly scale of the hamlets and villages, the teasing glimpses of intimate views framed by gardens and specimen trees and the breathtaking panoramic vistas up, down and across the Hudson River combine to make an ever intriguing setting for the commerce of daily life.
2. Unity
The Estates District SASS is unified by the dominance of the large estates, their orientation toward the Hudson River and the common history of the intertwined natural and cultural landscapes. Most of the estate landscapes were designed in the American Romantic Period and exhibit similar patterns and progressions. The main houses with their immediate environs of lawns and gardens are focused on the Hudson and create rhythmic openings in the woodlands along the river's corridor. The stone walls and gatehouses of the estates establish a pattern that provides a strong sense of place along the winding rural roads of the inland areas.
The villages, hamlets and landings were established either to take advantage of the river's commerce or to service the estates. Although neither the Hudson nor the estates is the economic center of the area today, the pattern of development remains essentially unchanged with clear edges still existing between the thickly settled areas and the surrounding pastoral working landscape and forested open spaces. The farmland which surrounds the estates was once a part of them, and the connection between the commercial and residential centers and their environs is still evident, providing a model of harmonious human interaction with the natural landscape.
The Hudson River is the connector, stretching the length of the SASS, a necklace sometimes calm and blue, sometimes grey and heaving, its linear shoreline leading the eye through the composition of the panoramic views. The Hudson carved its corridor out of the surrounding upland and is the destination of the creeks which drain the upland. Its waters encircle the islands, alternately cover and reveal the flats and marshes, reflect the images of the forested bluffs, support the migrating waterfowl and carry the vessels that are guided by the lighthouses and call at the landings.
In views to the west the river sparkles behind the trees along the shore, changing color with the weather and the sunsets and influencing through this reflected light the tonality and mood of most landscape compositions. The Hudson is the unchanging element, the unifier, which influenced the topography and history of the SASS in the past and continues to dominate its physical and cultural landscape.
3. Contrast
The Estates District SASS is replete with both physical and cultural contrasts. There is first the contrast between water and land, the broad expanse of the Hudson juxtaposed with its forested slopes and estate lawns, the absorptive texture of the overhanging trees antithetical to the reflective surface of the river. The intimate water spaces of creek ravines, coves and marsh streams invite visitors, in contrast with the less tame Hudson which can intimidate the neophyte boater.
Inland, there are contrasts between land uses and the elements they contribute to the landscape. Perpendiculars contrast with horizontals in the forms of dense deciduous forests and specimen trees which stand tall along the edges of rolling pastures and appear as sentinels among their weaving folds. The sweeping lawns of the estates and the exotic species of their ornamental gardens contrast with the wildness of second growth forests. Grand houses stand out against the natural landscape and provide a scale by which to appreciate the extent of the estate grounds and their viewshed. The land folds are as drapery in a still life, providing a softly textured and colored background for the sharper architectural details of the structural forms.
Both grand and intimate views are available in the Estates District SASS. Panoramic views from the SASS to the west are dominated by the Hudson River and the distant Catskill Mountains, which loom over the western horizon and are visible from throughout most of the SASS. The designed landscapes within the SASS create more intimate views, framing these views and providing focal points and shaping more controlled compositions. Other internal views, particularly from local roads, range from intimate glimpses of estate edges and streetscapes to broad sweeps of pasture. The winding rural roads weave their way through the landscape, unfolding new compositions at each bend.
4. Freedom from Discordant Features
There are few discordant features in the Estates District SASS. Both the natural and the cultural landscape are well preserved and maintained. Historic development patterns have been continued in most cases, and vegetation provides effective natural buffers between historic landscapes and new development. Some strip development is located in isolated patches along the major highways, however. The railroad tracks along the Hudson River are discordant but not overwhelming since the tracks are of insufficient scale to affect panoramic views and are often not visible in views from the bluffs at the river's edge. The Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge over the Hudson River also introduces an engineered element into the primarily natural landscape, but its influence on the scenic character of the SASS as a whole is minimal.
B. Uniqueness
The Estates District SASS, a major collection of significant estates with the integrity of their original settings largely preserved, is unique. Some estates have become museums or institutional properties, but most still serve their original function as country seats. The companion land uses of working farms, river landings and villages remain essentially intact.
The activities of modern life coexist in a landscape with its constitutive historic and scenic elements conserved. Designed landscapes which spawned the American Landscape Movement that subsequently spread across the country remain, as does the work of renowned architects, some of whom were ingenious innovators in the architectural history of the nation, including Calvert Vaux and Stanford White. Their works have earned for a majority of the SASS a National Historic Landmark District designation.
The fact that the land uses of the working pastoral landscape remain visually distinct from the commercial and residential centers is uncommon in the face of significant development pressure that usually yields suburban sprawl. Because the historic development pattern has been continued, the original interdependence of the hamlets and river landings with the estates and the Hudson River is still evident.
C. Public Accessibility
The Estates District SASS is moderately accessible to the public because most of the land is in private ownership and the railroad tracks along the Hudson River effectively cut off most access between the Hudson River and its shorelands. A number of former estates, however, are owned by the federal and State government and operated as parks open to the public. These provide important visual and physical access to the Hudson and its shorelands and foster public understanding and appreciation of the history and beauty of the SASS. These public properties are the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Sites, Clermont State Historic Site and Mills-Norrie State Park. Other sites operated by non-profit organizations, such as Wilderstein and Montgomery Place, as well as some quasi-public institutions, such as Bard College and the Linwood Retreat, provide additional, though more limited access.
The Hudson River provides visual access to the entire western portion of the SASS with views of the coves, marshes and estate buildings and grounds on the east bank of the river. The Hudson is regaining its former importance as a transportation corridor, although the presence of the railroad tracks severely limits docking opportunities, increasing the importance of the existing landings. Rhinebeck Town Landing in Rhinecliff, accessible via a bridge over the railroad tracks, provides docking for transient vessels and is a popular boat launch and viewing area.
Because the railroad lies inland from the Hudson River within Norrie State Park, Norrie Point and the marina in the park provide docking and slip rentals. Small boats can also be launched into Tivoli North and South Bays from a State car-top boat launch accessible from NY Route 9G in Red Hook. The bays and much of their associated shorelands constitute the National Estuarine Sanctuary and Research Reserve and are State-owned. These extensive holdings provide public access to one of the most significant marshes on the Hudson and to Cruger's Island.
As passenger vessels become more common on the Hudson, more members of the public other than recreational boaters will be able to view the Hudson and its shorelands from the river, including views of estate properties not otherwise accessible, thus increasing public understanding of the landscape's significance.
The railroad tracks, although minor discordant features in the landscape, provide visual access to the Estates District SASS. Since the bluffs along the tracks block views in most cases to the estates and other upland areas, the views from the trains are primarily of the Hudson River, its coves and creek mouths, islands, lighthouses, wildlife and river traffic.
Municipal waterfront parks provide additional public access to the Hudson - visual access only at the Hyde Park Railroad Station and both visual and physical access at the Rhinebeck Town Landing at Rhinecliff. In addition, village-owned land in Tivoli provides visual and physical at- grade access to the Hudson, although the land is not officially developed as a park. At Barrytown there is an above-grade vehicular bridge on a public street.
The Hyde Park Trail, an initial segment of which is now open along the Hudson River between the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Sites with a second segment planned to connect with the Mills-Norrie State Park, traverses private property through easement arrangements and provides visual access to the Hudson River. As this trail is extended and others are developed elsewhere, public access to the interior landscape of the SASS will increase.
Ferncliff Forest in Rhinebeck, which includes Mt. Rutsen, is a private nature preserve open to the public for hiking. An observation tower at the top of the forested knob could provide panoramic views of the SASS if it were repaired.
State highways and county and local roads provide visual access to the edges and interior of the SASS. Dutchess County has included many roads in the county's network of designated Historic Tourways. Maps for self-drive tours are available from the county.
D. Public Recognition
The Estates District SASS is highly recognized by the public for its scenic and historic values. The landscape and panoramic views of the SASS were frequently the subject matter for artists of the 19th century Hudson River School of Painting, the first indigenous art movement in the United States and of international renown. Many scenes appearing in their works remain relatively unchanged.
The scenic quality of the Estates District SASS is recognized under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law through designation of the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District and the following Scenic Roads:
1. In Red Hook, Santage Road from its junction with Woods Road to its junction with Stony Brook Street;
2. In Red Hook, Stony Brook Street from its junction with Santage Road to its junction with NY Route 9G;
3. In Red Hook, River Road and Annandale Road;
4. In Rhinebeck, Rhinecliff, Morton and South Mill Roads and parts of the road also known as County Route 103;
5. In Rhinebeck, NY Route 199 from its junction with NY Route 9G west to the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge;
6. In Hyde Park, NY Route 9 from the southern border of the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site northerly 2.3 miles;
7. In Hyde park, Old Post Road in the hamlet of Staatsburg for its entire length between its intersections with NY Route 9;
8. In Hyde Park, Golf Course Road in the Dinsmore Golf Course;
9. In Hyde Park, Norrie State Park Roads from the entrance to the park to both Norrie Point and the camping area.
Many roads in the area have also been designated by Dutchess County as Historic Tourways.
For more detailed information concerning the designed landscapes of the estates, the Management Plan for the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District should be consulted.
Most of the SASS is included in the thirty two square mile Hudson River National Historic Landmark District designated in 1990 as the nation's largest landmark district. In addition, the SASS contains three historic districts listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places - The Clermont Estates Historic District, the Sixteen Mile Historic District and the Town of Rhinebeck Multi-Resource District. Most of the estates included in these designations would individually meet the criteria for listing on the State and National Registers, but they gain additional significance from their grouping along the Hudson River.
The Estates District SASS is also well recognized by the general public as the location of two National Historic Sites, the Vanderbilt Mansion and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home, both in Hyde Park. Also frequented by the public are the Mills-Norrie State Park in Staatsburg and the Clermont State Historic Site in Clermont. These public properties attract a large number of visitors each year.
During the tenure of President Franklin D. Roosevelt the SASS was the destination of international dignitaries. President Roosevelt welcomed world leaders to his home in Hyde Park, often greeting them or seeing them off at the Hyde Park Railroad Station. Photographs recording their visits are in the collection of the Presidential Library at the F.D.R. Home National Historic Site and at the Hyde Park Railroad Station Museum.
In addition to the public properties, other estates are being preserved and opened to the public, increasing the number of visitors attracted to the SASS. Montgomery Place in Red Hook, operated by Historic Hudson Valley, is open to the public. Wilderstein, in Rhinebeck, owned by Wilderstein Preservation and undergoing restoration, is open to the public on a limited basis.
Several educational and religious institutions have been developed on former estates and provide limited access to the SASS. Among them are Bard College and the Linwood Retreat.
IV. IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Whether within or outside a designated Scenic Area of Statewide Significance (SASS) all proposed actions subject to review under federal and State coastal acts or a Local Waterfront Revitalization Program must be assessed to determine whether the action could affect a scenic resource and whether the action would be likely to impair the scenic beauty of the scenic resource.
Policy 24 provides that when considering a proposed action, agencies shall first determine whether the action could affect a scenic resource of statewide significance. The determination would involve:
(1) a review of the coastal area map to ascertain if it shows an identified scenic resource which could be affected by the proposed action, and
(2) a review of the types of activities proposed to determine if they would be likely to impair the scenic beauty of an identified resource.
Impairment includes:
(i) the irreversible modification of geologic forms; the destruction or removal of vegetation; the modification, destruction, or removal of structures, whenever the geologic forms, vegetation or structures are significant to the scenic quality of an identified resource; and
(ii) the addition of structures which because of siting or scale will reduce identified views or which because of scale, form, or materials will diminish the scenic quality of an identified resource.
Policy 24 sets forth certain siting and facility-related guidelines to be used to achieve the policy, recognizing that each development situation is unique and that the guidelines will have to be applied accordingly. The guidelines are set forth below, together with comments regarding their particular applicability to this Scenic Area of Statewide Significance. In applying these guidelines to agricultural land it must be recognized that the overall scenic quality of the landscape is reliant on an active and viable agricultural industry. This requires that farmers be allowed the flexibility to farm the land in an economically viable fashion, incorporating modern techniques, changes in farm operation and resultant changes in farm structures. Policy 24 guidelines include:
SITING STRUCTURES AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT SUCH AS HIGHWAYS, POWER LINES, AND SIGNS BACK FROM SHORELINES OR IN OTHER INCONSPICUOUS LOCATIONS TO MAINTAIN THE ATTRACTIVE QUALITY OF THE SHORELINE AND TO RETAIN VIEWS TO AND FROM THE SHORE;
COMMENT: The most notable of views available in the SASS are the panoramic views which include lawns or fields, the Hudson River and its shoreline and the distant Catskill Mountains. The siting of structures in a manner that causes them to intrude upon, block, alter the composition of or introduce discordant features into these views would impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
Interior views are less well known but equally contribute to the aesthetic significance of the landscape. They tend to be views down winding rural roads and carriage trails and glimpses of small clearings framed by vegetation. The essential character of these views is of pastoral or forested landscapes. If commercial or industrial structures or large scale residential structures were introduced into these views, they would constitute discordant features, impairing the scenic quality of the views and, consequently, the scenic quality of the SASS.
CLUSTERING OR ORIENTING STRUCTURES TO RETAIN VIEWS, SAVE OPEN SPACE AND PROVIDE VISUAL ORGANIZATION TO A DEVELOPMENT;
COMMENT: Two types of views are found in the SASS. These are 1) panoramic views, generally including fields or lawns, the Hudson River and its western shorelands and 2) intimate views of a pastoral or forested nature. If care were not taken to cluster and orient structures to retain these views, discordant features would be introduced into the views, reducing their scenic quality and impairing the scenic quality of the SASS.
If agriculture were not to remain as a viable industry, a significant amount of open space could be lost. Measures which stimulate the accelerated appreciation of farmland could lead to the loss of farmland in the SASS, to the extent that pressure on farmers to sell farms for residential and commercial development increases. Loss of the working farm landscape to other uses would reduce the unifying element of the pastoral landscape and eliminate some of the ephemeral elements of the SASS, thus impairing the scenic quality of the SASS. The failure to cluster new development at the edges of fields and adjacent to existing population centers rather than allow it to sprawl across the fields would obliterate the sharp edges between settled areas and open space, affecting the variety and contrast of the landscape composition and impairing the scenic quality of the SASS.
Other types of open space in the SASS include estate lawns and forests. The latter provide an opportunity to screen new development on the estates. Failure to preserve forested areas and to
cluster structures within them in order to retain the open lawns of the estates would reduce open space and contrast in the landscape, impairing the scenic quality of the SASS. Failure to maintain the forests and use them to screen new development would eliminate the contrast between the open lawns and forested areas and impair the scenic quality of the SASS. Siting of structures in the lawn areas would alter the composition of the views, reduce open space and, in some cases, block views in the SASS, a significant component of its scenic quality.
The forested shorelands also contribute open space to the landscape composition and provide an opportunity to screen new development. Failure to retain the forests to the maximum extent practicable and screen new development within them would change the open space character of the Hudson River corridor, reduce the amount of texture and contrast of the SASS, impair the visual organization and verdant character of the Hudson River corridor and impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
The expanse of the Hudson River is itself a significant open space element in the SASS. Its ever changing surface provides a variety of contrasts with its forested shores and settled landings. The siting of extensive dock and mooring facilities would reduce the open space of the Hudson and the alternately tossing and reflective surface of the water. This would reduce the variety and contrast of the landscape, impairing the scenic quality of the SASS.
INCORPORATING SOUND, EXISTING STRUCTURES (ESPECIALLY HISTORIC BUILDINGS) INTO THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME;
COMMENT: The historic structures in the SASS relate the story of the cultural landscape as well as contribute to the landscape and provide focal points in views. Architectural gems such as the Hudson River lighthouses along the western shore, estate and farm structures, streetscapes and specimen trees are examples of focal points. Other cultural elements include the estate houses and their designed landscape environs including the expansive lawns; other estate features such as gateways and entrance roads, historic barns and stone walls; historic streetscapes in the villages and river landings; and the vernacular village and farm architecture reflecting earlier agricultural practices. Failure to preserve these historic structures through incorporation in an overall development scheme would alter the cultural landscape, reduce variety and contrast of the landscape and eliminate focal points from views, impairing the scenic quality of the SASS. Loss of historic structures would also reduce the visible story of the landscape, reducing its symbolic value and reducing public recognition of that history and value.
REMOVING DETERIORATED AND/OR DEGRADING ELEMENTS;
COMMENT: Some historic elements are deteriorated, such as stone walls and certain historic structures, but removal of these important landscape components would result in the loss of important cultural features and focal points in views as well as reduce the variety and contrast of the landscape, thus impairing the SASS. Rehabilitation rather than removal is the more appropriate action for historic structures.
The SASS is generally free of discordant features. The railroad tracks are discordant when they figure prominently in the landscape, however. This occurs primarily when the viewer is close to the tracks. Therefore, avoiding the application of herbicides in the railroad corridor which renders vegetation unsightly or failure to control scrub growth along the corridor to maintain views, can impair the scenic quality of the SASS. In addition, leaching of other pollutants from the tracks into the adjacent marshes, if such leaching were to adversely affect the viability and visual character of the marsh vegetation, would change the color and texture of the marsh and impair the scenic quality of the SASS. This loss of vegetation and marsh viability could result in a reduction of wildlife populations, reducing ephemeral elements of the SASS and impairing its scenic quality.
Bulkheads and docks in the river landings are evidencing signs of deterioration, and some waterfront areas are cluttered with abandoned structures and discarded materials. Failure to invest in the river landings, such as Rhinecliff, Barrytown and Tivoli, through repair of bulkheads and docks may increase deterioration to the extent that the bulkheads and docks become discordant features.
Rehabilitation of these docks has the added advantage of preserving opportunities to increase public access to the SASS in the future via passenger vessels and to reinforce the historic ties to the Hudson River. Increased tourism could support the continued economic health of the public and private attractions as well as of the landings and community centers, thus maintaining the character and good repair of significant scenic elements of the SASS.
MAINTAINING OR RESTORING THE ORIGINAL LAND FORM, EXCEPT WHEN CHANGES SCREEN UNATTRACTIVE ELEMENTS AND/OR ADD APPROPRIATE INTEREST;
COMMENT: The shoreline of the Hudson River is characterized by coves, marshes and scattered islands which contribute to the variety and contrast of the SASS and the interest of an undulating shoreline in many locations. Meandering streams cross the upland fields and rush through ravines as they approach the river. Actions and development which would alter the configuration of the shorelines or the relationship between water and land elements would impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
The bluffs along the Hudson River are highly erodible and subject to slumping and sliding. Their wooded character in certain portions of the Hudson River corridor significantly contributes to its scenic quality. Failure to maintain the undisturbed nature of the bluffs and their woodlands would alter the natural character of the landscape and the river corridor and impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
The topography behind the bluffs is generally rolling with some promontories. Alteration of this underlying form would diminish a unifying element of the landscape and impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
MAINTAINING OR ADDING VEGETATION TO PROVIDE INTEREST, ENCOURAGE THE PRESENCE OF WILDLIFE, BLEND STRUCTURES INTO THE SITE, AND OBSCURE UNATTRACTIVE ELEMENT, EXCEPT WHEN SELECTIVE CLEARING CREATES VIEWS OF COASTAL WATERS;
COMMENT: The variety, type and arrangement of vegetation in the SASS contributes significantly to the scenic quality. From marshes to wooded slopes to forests, to gardens and working farms, the natural and designed landscapes exhibit a wide range of color and texture. Vegetation screens discordant features, defines edges, softens harsh contrasts, frames views and provides focal points such as specimen trees. The wildlife supported by the various vegetation constitutes ephemeral effects on the landscape. Tree-lined scenic roads and carriage trails constitute important access ways for public experience of the landscape. Failure to preserve vegetation and provide for its continuance to the maximum extent practicable would alter the composition of the landscape, introduce discordant features through the failure to screen development, change the nature of views and significantly impair the SASS.
Vegetation also provides a buffer between the SASS and discordant elements outside the SASS and preserves the ambience of historic landscapes by screening adjacent incompatible development. As development and related traffic increase in the SASS, the importance of this buffer increases. Loss of vegetation along the edge of the scenic district and the edges of historic sites would adversely impact the historic context of the historic sites and impair the scenic quality of the SASS.
The failure to undertake selective clearing of brush along the railroad corridor at the Hyde Park Railroad Station Park will result in further diminishment of visual public access to the Hudson River and reduction in the quality of the views available there, impairing the scenic quality of the SASS.
USING APPROPRIATE MATERIALS, IN ADDITION TO VEGETATION, TO SCREEN UNATTRACTIVE ELEMENTS;
COMMENT: The SASS is a living landscape which has successfully absorbed change over time because each new period of development has been compatible with the scale, design and materials of previous periods. Failure to use appropriate materials, the color and texture of which would blend new development into the historic and natural landscape, would introduce discordant features into the landscape which singularly or collectively would disrupt the unity of the SASS and impair its scenic quality.
USING APPROPRIATE SCALES, FORMS AND MATERIALS TO ENSURE THAT BUILDINGS AND OTHER STRUCTURES ARE COMPATIBLE WITH AND ADD INTEREST TO THE LANDSCAPE.
COMMENT: The SASS is a living landscape which has successfully absorbed change over time because each new period of development has been compatible with the scale, design and materials of previous periods. Failure to continue to use appropriate scales, forms and materials in new development that are compatible with neighboring structures and do not dominate the landscape would introduce discordant features into the landscape which singularly or collectively would disrupt the unity of the SASS and impair its scenic quality.
Estates District Scenic Area of State Significance
Index to Estates District Subunits
ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland Subunit
ED-4 Montgomery Place/Blithewood Subunit
ED-7 Annandale-on-Hudson Subunit
ED-13 Rhinebeck Center Subunit
ED-16 Rhinecliff Woods Subunit
ED-17 Mill Road Meadows Subunit
ED-18 Vanderburgh Cove Subunit
ED-19 Dinsmore Golf Course Subunit
ED-20 Mills State Park Subunit
ED-23 Norrie State Park Subunit
ED-24 Vanderbilt Mansion Subunit
ED-25 Hyde Park Center Subunit
ED-26 Franklin D. Roosevelt Home Entrance Subunit
ED-27 Franklin D. Roosevelt Home Subunit
ESTATES DISTRICT SCENIC AREA OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE
I. Location
The Clermont subunit constitutes part of the northernmost portion of the Estates District SASS. Its northern boundary is Cheviot Road in the river landing of Cheviot, and its southern boundary is a common boundary with the ED-Montgomery Place/Blithewood subunit bordering Tivoli Bay in the Village of Tivoli. Woods Road constitutes the eastern boundary north of Callendar House, a common boundary with the ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland subunit. The eastern boundary south of the village center is the edge of the fields surrounding the village center, a common boundary with the ED-3 Tivoli subunit. On the west the boundary is the mean high tide line on the west bank of the Hudson River, part of the Ulster North SASS. The subunit is located in the Towns of Germantown and Clermont in Columbia County, in the Town of Red Hook and the Village of Tivoli in Dutchess County and in the Town of Saugerties in Ulster County. Consult the Estates District SASS map sheets, numbers 1 and 2, for subunit boundaries.
II. Scenic Components
A. Physical Character
The Clermont subunit consists of steep, wooded bluffs rising 150 feet above the Hudson River and a rolling landscape behind them punctuated with rock outcrops. Meadows and lawns of several major estates create clearings in the extensive woodlands. Vegetation is a mix of native species and the ornamental plantings of the estates' landscapes, most designed in the American Romantic Landscape Style. Mature trees line Woods Road and estate entrance roads. The land is laced with intermittent streams, and the White Clay Kill/Stony Brook cut through the fields and woodlands on their way to the Hudson.
The Hudson River is about 2,200 feet in width in this area. The shoreline of the Hudson is primarily linear with long gradual curves emphasized by the railroad tracks which are located on an eight foot high embankment. Small points occasionally project into the Hudson west of the railroad tracks.
B. Cultural Character
The cultural character of the subunit is dominated by historic estates which are part of a unique grouping of historic properties that stretches for twenty miles along the Hudson River. Some once had their own docks on the Hudson, but the docks are now in ruins and separated from the upland by the railroad tracks. In this subunit, there is only one bridge across the tracks - at Midwood - and it is in good repair and regular use. Ruins of docks and ice houses are located along the Hudson on both sides of the railroad tracks. Dry laid stone walls and rows of mature trees line Woods Road. Overgrown trails and paths on the estate grounds give evidence of one pastime followed on these country seats.
One of the most scenic and historic of the Hudson river estates is Clermont, the heart of the original 162,248 acre Manor of Livingston charter given to Robert Livingston by Governor Dongan in 1686. This original tract constituted the bottom third of Columbia County and reached east to the borders of what is now Massachusetts and Connecticut. Clermont, or the "Lower Manor", consisting of 13,000 acres, was carved out of the southwest corner of Livingston Manor for the third son of Robert Livingston, Robert of Clermont, who built the first house at Clermont in 1728. His son, the third Robert Livingston, was a judge in the Supreme Court of the Province of New York and, as delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, wrote the letter of protest to the King of England. His son, Robert R. Livingston, was an advocate of colonial rights and a member of the Second Continental Congress, one of five chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence. During the Revolution the British, after burning Kingston, sailed up river and burned the buildings at Clermont in 1777. Charred members of the original house are a part of the existing Clermont house, constructed in 1782 on the original foundation.
Chancellor Livingston became prominent in the affairs of the new nation and, in 1781, was appointed the first United States Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was interested in mechanics and formed a partnership with Robert Fulton. Fulton's first steamboat, known to posterity as the Clermont, stopped at the Clermont wharf on its maiden voyage up the Hudson River in 1807.
The original gift of 414 acres to the State of New York, which became Clermont State Historic Site, was made by Alice Delafield Clarkson Livingston in 1962. In 1991 Honoria Livingston McVitty, the last surviving direct descendant of Robert Livingston to have grown up at Clermont, gave the State an additional 71 acres of wooded shoreland and meadows plus 88 acres of underwater land adjacent to the State Historic Site. Farm fields and woods east of Woods Road are part of the Historic Site. Ms. McVitty retained the Sylvan Cottage, once the gatekeeper's cottage, and the remaining 15 acres of the Livingston holdings north of the Historic Site.
The Clermont house is sited on bluffs overlooking the Hudson River amidst a pastoral, designed landscape of tall locust trees and ornamental plantings. Enlarged and modified several times, the house was last remodeled in the 1920s in the Colonial Revival Style. Other historic structures, including the Children's Playhouse and the Livingston Family burial site built in 1750, are located in the newly acquired parkland.
The McVitty gift includes "The Avenue," the original Eighteenth Century entrance road to Clermont which was used to transport produce from inland farms to the Clermont wharf. Stone walls and piers along Woods Road mark the beginning of The Avenue, and the white pines that line it were planted by John Henry Livingston around 1885. The Garden Path leads to a greenhouse and upper garden which includes historic plants. Carriage roads and trails wind through the property.
The Clermont subunit stretches many miles along the Hudson River and includes many smaller estates. To the south of Tivoli and north of Lower Dock Road is located The Pynes, once called Green Hill. Its main house, built perhaps as early as 1762, predates the house at Clermont because it was not burned by the British, its owner, Gilbert Livingston, having convinced the British soldiers that he was a Tory. This estate adjoins the original river landing for the Tivoli area.
Callendar House, located in the southeastern corner of the subunit south of The Pynes, consists of 175 acres, presently in two ownerships, separated by a wooded ravine. Some of this acreage is now called Tivoli Farms and is located in the Tivoli subunit. The entrance road is bordered by mature pine trees. The original portion of the main house, built in 1794, is Georgian in style and adorned with a Greek Revival colonnaded portico, while the later south wing was designed by McKim, Mead and White. There is an Italianate carriage house on the grounds.
Northwood, composed of 230 acres, most of which lie east of Woods Road, is the largest of the subunit's estates. Orchards along Woods Road and an 1875 gatehouse notify the traveler of the estate's presence. The stucco main house built in 1856 is approached through a wooded area. Other structures of note on the property are a carriage house and mounting shed along with a collection of barns.
Oak Lawn, an 1872 Second Empire masonry structure, is built at the edge of a bluff that rises steeply above the Hudson River. Then forty-six acres in size, the estate was the childhood home of Eleanor Roosevelt. The long curving entrance road begins at an 1870 gatehouse with French inspired details. Overgrown trails and paths are still identifiable on the property. The main house has, unfortunately, fallen into extensive disrepair, and the property has been reduced to five acres and has lost its view.
Other estates, of which only a portion are located in the subunit, include Rose Hill and Teviot to the south of Clermont. Rose Hill's masonry house with its Italianate tower was built in 1843. The estate's original entry road, located just north of St. Paul's Church, is now overgrown; but its border of trees is still visible, and its gate lodge and gates still stand. Also visible along Woods Road are former farm structures of Rose Hill, some transformed into residences. Teviot still sports its 1843 Gothic Revival house graced by weeping hemlocks.
North of Clermont are Ridgely, now the Motherhouse of the Carmelite Sisters and site of an 1850 farmhouse, and Southwood and Chiddingstone, two other mid-19th century estates. The 1885 rambling main house of Midwood, less formal in demeanor than its neighbors, was designed by Michael O'Connor as a year-round home. Situated on a bluff above the Hudson River, it sports panoramic views of the Hudson and the distant Catskills. The property also has access to the Hudson River via a bridge over the railroad tracks to a small point of shoreland, the site of an old dock. Midwood is connected to the adjacent Oak Lawn via an interior road. Holcroft and Northwood are located in the most northerly portion of the subunit.
Tivoli Landing, once a bustling wharf, is now a quiet spot on the Hudson. Passenger vessels and cargo vessels alike once docked there, including the Saugerties-Tivoli ferry. Near the western shore of the Hudson River to the north of the landing stands the Saugerties Lighthouse, the oldest existing Hudson River lighthouse. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has been restored as a museum and bed and breakfast. (Refer to the UN-5 Esopus Creek subunit in the Ulster North SASS for more detailed information about the Saugerties Lighthouse and other features of the western shore.)
The subunit has few discordant features. Some of the estates suffer from neglect and inappropriate bulky additions, but the landscape is generally well kept and its integrity maintained.
The railroad bed is somewhat discordant. Located on an embankment eight feet high, it parallels the straight shoreline at the foot of the bluffs and for the most part cannot be seen from the estates; but it does constitute a discordant feature from nearby river perspectives. Its scale renders it insignificant in panoramic views, however.
The railroad tracks, although not highly visible, do cut off access between the Hudson River and its uplands except for a few individual landings, including Tivoli Landing. Hudson River landings developed over two centuries of orientation to the river as an avenue of commerce. The village landing is no longer used and is in a deteriorated condition that is discordant with the surrounding estate properties. However, it does still evidence the close connection between the Hudson and historic development in the subunit.
C. Views
Views from the subunit are both deep and broad, especially from the grounds of the estates which have been designed to create, frame, and enhance the composition of the views of both the natural riverfront setting of the mansions and of the Hudson River and distant Catskills. The mansions, the river, the Saugerties Lighthouse on the western shore and the Catskills are the focal points of these views. The shorelands of the Ulster North SASS to the west are important as the middleground of these extensive views.
The Hudson River dominates many views, especially those from Tivoli Landing where the Hudson is experienced as a broad and sometimes foreboding body of water. Rough water and large waves are ephemeral effects generated on windy days.
Glimpses of the estate grounds are available along Woods Road, but in most locations the estate gatehouses and stone walls provide the only hint of the landscape beyond. Portions of the estates are visible from the Hudson River.
III. Uniqueness
The Clermont subunit, a collection of significant historic estates with both their architectural values and their designed landscapes relatively unaltered, is unique. The historic setting is irreplaceable. The estates exemplify a blending of exceptional architecture, beautifully integrated with an enhanced natural setting and oriented to take full advantage of views of the Hudson Valley.
IV. Public Accessibility
Clermont State Historic Site is open to the public and provides the opportunity for the public to experience the ambience, views and designed landscape available to the private landowner. The private estates of the subunit are visible from the Hudson River and from some locations on its western shore in the Ulster North SASS. Woods Road and other local roads provide access to the edge of the subunit and some limited visual access to estate grounds. The subunit is also visible from the trains, although the bluffs limit views to the east. Tivoli Landing provides access to the Hudson River.
V. Public Recognition
The subunit is included the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District designated under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law. Woods Road is a designated Scenic Road under Article 49 and is an Historic Tourway designated by Dutchess County. The subunit constitutes most of the Clermont Estates Historic District and the northernmost portion of the Sixteen Mile Historic District, both listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The subunit is also located in the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District.
VI. Reason for Inclusion
The Clermont subunit is included in the Estates District SASS because it contains a variety of vegetation, water features and cultural elements. Woodlands, lawns, ornamental plantings and rows of mature trees along the roadway grace the landscape. Intermittent streams, creeks and the Hudson River provide interest. Estate houses from several architectural periods, gatehouses and stone walls signal the historical significance of the area. The landscape is characterized by contrast between the lawns and mansions of the historic estates and the woodlands and Hudson River of their surroundings. The distant Catskill Mountains provide additional contrast in the sweeping views to the west from the estate grounds. The subunit is unified by the landscape design and the degree of preservation of the historic architectural and landscape elements. It is generally well kept and has few discordant features.
The subunit is unique. The estates exemplify the blending of exceptionally sited architecture integrated with an enhanced natural setting that typifies the aesthetic sensibilities of the owners and the Age of Romanticism which shaped the Estates District SASS.
The subunit is accessible via the Hudson River, Woods Road and other local roads. The Clermont State Historic Site is accessible to the public and presents an excellent sense of the total scenic character of the subunit. The remaining estates are in private (in one case institutional) ownership, but the buildings and grounds of the estates are visible from the Hudson River and from some points on the western shore in the Ulster North SASS. Their edges and some of their fields are visible from the public roads. Portions of the subunit are also visible from the railroad trains, although the bluffs limit views to the east.
The subunit is very well known and is recognized through several designations. It is included in the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District designated under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law. Woods Road is a designated Scenic Road under Article 49 and is an Historic Tourway designated by Dutchess County. The subunit is included in the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District and the Clermont Estates Historic District and constitutes a portion of the Sixteen Mile Historic District listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
ESTATES DISTRICT SCENIC AREA OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE
ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland Subunit
I. Location
The Clermont/Tivoli subunit constitutes part of the northernmost portion of the Estates District SASS. The subunit is bounded on the north by Roundtop Road in Germantown, the northern boundary of the SASS. Its southern boundary is a common boundary with the ED-3 Tivoli subunit. The western boundary consists of Woods Road and the settled center of the Village of Tivoli, common boundaries with the ED-1 Clermont and ED-3 Tivoli subunits. The subunit is bordered on the east by New York Route 9G and on the south by the ED-4 Montgomery Place/Blithewood subunit. The subunit is located in the Towns of Germantown, Clermont and Red Hook in Columbia and Dutchess Counties. Consult the Estates District SASS map sheets, numbers 1 and 2, for subunit boundaries.
II. Scenic Components
A. Physical Character
The landform consists of essentially flat, open terrain with some gradually rolling areas. Orchards and small woodlots along with extensive meadows, pastures and hayfields create varied vegetation patterns on the expansive agricultural landscape. Water features consist of some small ponds and small streams which cross the meadows through shallow, wooded swales. The golf course of the Edgewood Club of Tivoli lies east of Woods Road and north of Tivoli. The course has a varied terrain, contains mature trees and is bordered by woodlands. A portion of the club's holdings is cultivated.
B. Cultural Character
The land use of the subunit is agricultural, containing the farmland portion of several major estates and religious institutions. The landscape is shaped primarily by lush horse farms, orchards and estate farms, the fields of which provide a visual connection between the structures along NY Route 9G and the estate landscapes in the ED-1 Clermont subunit to the west. The large estates originally were located on both sides of Woods Road with the agricultural landscapes to the east of the road and the designed landscape and main houses located to the west.
Stone and wood frame vernacular houses and barns from the 1860s to 1870s and associated old agricultural fields of former tenant farms flank Woods Road. This landscape hints of the era when the owners of large estates such as Clermont, the main house of which is located in the ED-1 Clermont subunit to the west, controlled extensive productive farmlands from their country seats. The fields and woods that lie between Woods Road and NY Route 9G were once part of the Livingston estate, and the southwest corner of the subunit is part of the Clermont State Historic Site.
An historic house of note, the "The Stone Jug" or Konradt Lasher House, is located at the eastern edge of the subunit. Built in 1752 at what is now the intersection of NY Route 9G and Jug Road, the Stone Jug was originally a tenant house on Livingston property. Just to its north stand residences from the mid-1800s and associated barns and fields which were once part of the Oak Lawn estate, also located in the ED-1 Clermont subunit. Situated along NY Route 9G is the Clarkson Chapel, an 1860 Gothic Revival wood fame church with a bell cote in a setting of cemetery, lawns, stone walls and mature trees. Also located along NY Route 9G is the Red Church and its cemetery, believed to be the oldest house of worship in Dutchess County. Largely unaltered, the church's hilltop setting on Route 9G is picturesque.
Some portions of the subunit contain agricultural landscapes designed as gracious entrance ways to estates such as Clermont with carefully placed fields and trees in the American Romantic landscape tradition. Other sections of the agricultural lands are more utilitarian and support cash crops more typical of working farms. One 230 acre horse farm was until recently associated in ownership with Chiddingstone, the main house of which is located in the ED-1 Clermont subunit to the west. Several elaborate horse breeding and exercising facilities are sited on the horse farm.
The land in the subunit is very well maintained, generally to a higher level of maintenance than typical of working farms. Some of the large horse farm structures and tracks as well as recent strip development along the roads constitute discordant features.
Sections of this landscape are protected through State ownership associated with the Clermont State Historic Site and the Tivoli Bays Nature Preserve which extend easterly to front on NY Route 9G.
C. Views
Views from the subunit are enhanced by the openness of the agricultural landscape, the fields of which provide long views over the surrounding countryside. The livestock on the horse farms provide ephemeral effects. Specimen trees, stone walls, tree-lined entrance roads and carefully sited agricultural buildings enhance the composition of these designed agricultural landscapes. There is no major central focal point.
The extensive fields provide sweeping views to the Catskill Mountains to the west, while views of nearby hills and woodlands are available throughout the subunit. Views of the Hudson River generally are not available, except from NY Route 9G between Bard College and Tivoli.
III. Uniqueness
The Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland subunit with its expansive estate farm landscape constitutes a uniquely large band of pastoral field landscapes.
IV. Public Accessibility
The subunit is accessible via NY Route 9G and local roads, such as Woods Road, Sengstack Road and Roundtop Road, which run along the edges and through portions of the subunit. A portion of Clermont State Historic Site extends into the subunit along the Columbia-Dutchess county line.
V. Public Recognition
The Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland subunit is part of the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District designated under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law. Woods Road, which lies along most of the western boundary of the subunit, is a designated Scenic Road under Article 49. The subunit is included in the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District in part because it was the working landscape of the nearby estates. A small portion of the subunit is part of the Clermont State Historic Site. The estate lands are also part of the Clermont Estates Historic District listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The Stone Jug, the neighboring Lasher properties and the Clarkson Chapel are listed on the State and National Registers as an individual historic resource.
VI. Reason for Inclusion
The Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland subunit is included in the Estates District SASS because it contains varied field patterns and a variety of vegetation which are unified by the estate farm uses. Contrasts exist between the flat open fields, the orchards and woodlands and the Catskill Mountains viewed in the distance. The subunit's expansive estate lands constitute a uniquely large band of pastoral landscape which is accessible via NY Route 9G and local roads and is well recognized as the working landscape of the associated well-known estates. It is included in the Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic Area designated under Article 49 of the Environmental Conservation Law and forms the viewshed of Woods Road, a Scenic Road also designated under Article 49.
ESTATES DISTRICT SCENIC AREA OF STATEWIDE SIGNIFICANCE
I. Location
The Tivoli subunit consists of the village center of the Village of Tivoli and surrounding farmland, its boundaries being the woodlands and fence rows enclosing the fields. The subunit boundaries are common boundaries with the ED-4 Montgomery Place/Blithewood, ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland and ED-1 Clermont subunits. The subunit is located in the Town of Red Hook, Dutchess County. Consult the Estates District SASS Map sheet number 2 for subunit boundaries.
II. Scenic components
A. Physical Character
The topography of the subunit is flat to slightly rolling. Vegetation consists of extensive fields punctuated by small woodlands and groups of trees. Lawns, gardens and trees are found in the village center. The Stony Creek cuts a ravine through part of the subunit.
B. Cultural Character
Land use is a combination of the historic village center and the estate farm landscape. Structures in the village are primarily residential with some minor commercial and transportation - related buildings. Tivoli was settled in the early 1800's, initially to support the riverfront commerce of Tivoli Landing, or lower village, the waterfront portion of which is located in the ED-1 Clermont subunit. Woods Road connects the village center with the Clermont subunit, and County Route 402 connects the village center with NY Route 9G located in the ED-2 Clermont/Tivoli Estate Farmland subunit.
Tivoli's historic architecture is well preserved. Both the upper and lower village contain fine examples of period housing, including Gothic Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne styles. Among the prize structures are three Gothic Revival churches - St. Paul's, built in 1868; Tivoli Methodist Church, built in 1892; and St. Silvia's Church, built in 1902. St. Paul's is particularly noteworthy because of its setting. Located on a knoll along Woods Road, its stone walls and cemetery are focal points in the Woods Road scenic corridor. Also notable is the former Trinity Church on North Road, now a private residence but architecturally intact.
The residences of note stem from the mid-1800s to the turn of the century and sport such details as verandas, balustrades, brackets and Tuscan columns. There are several good examples of adaptive reuse of historic buildings. An 1870 frame school with a hipped roof has been converted into apartments with structural details intact. Storefronts and commercial structures from 1865 to 1890 remain. An 1890 Queen Anne schoolhouse is now a private residence. The exuberant DePeyster Firehouse is presently being rehabilitated with State funding assistance.
The strong, geometric village center lined with old homes contrasts dramatically with the immediately adjacent expansive farms, such as Tivoli Farms, a horse farm which was once part of the Callendar House estate located in subunits to the west. Such clear village edges are an increasingly rare phenomenon as development pressure increases.
The village is well maintained. Minor discordant features are limited to the few less attractive recent residential and commercial developments. The town houses along Woods Road constitute a discordant feature because their design, scale and materials do not reflect the historic fabric of the rest of the village, especially of neighboring properties.
C. Views
Views from the subunit include picturesque internal views of historic buildings and streetscapes as well as sweeping views from the village edges and roadways across the extensive open farm and estate fields. The sweeping views contrast with the narrow village streets. No single major focal point dominates the views. Background elements include nearby woodlands and, from certain locations, the distant Catskill Mountains to the west. The Hudson River is generally not visible except from the lower village where the Hudson's western shorelands, located in the Ulster North SASS, can be seen. Some winter views are available from remote fields in the upland areas.
III. Uniqueness
The Tivoli subunit is unique. Its historic village center and the clear edge between the village center and the adjacent fields are rare.
IV. Public Accessibility
The Tivoli subunit is highly accessible from Woods Road, village streets and County Route 402. Woods Road and County Route 402 are used by some visitors to the Clermont State Historic Site located in the ED-1 Clermont subunit to the north, although they are not the primary access route. The western portion of the subunit is also visible from the Hudson River and its western shorelands and from the passing railroad trains.