Our final day - awakening to rain forecast to last all day. Today will be a full day. Breakfast as usual, the powdered eggs the driest yet, so glad to back up with a hard boiled egg - bacon returned to the menu. Due to today’s lengthy travel times back into New York State, we have ordered Subway sandwiches for the troops; our leader directs the factotum to strike out in the rain across the highway to pick up the 22 sandwiches, 22 cookies, 22 bags of chips and 20 bottles of water.
Off we head about 9:15, all bags loaded on the coach and all rain gear on board as we will likely need it today. Our first stop is the home of Edna St. Vincent Millay, known as Steepletop, located in Austerlitz New York. ESVM and her husband Eugen built this small clapboard home on the site of a former berry farm. Millay lived here for the last 25 years of her life, eventually dying in the home. It was bequeathed to her sister Norma who lived for an additional 36 years in the home, then setting up the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society for the preservation of the home and grounds.
This is a small, obviously lived in, and loved home. Again, all the furnishings are as Millay left them, so moving around in our group was a challenge, particularly as this is a small home. The rain deterred much walking around on the grounds (except for a hardy few) but the home left such a feeling of personality that it was worth missing most of the surrounding area. The Society maintains a small gallery and gift shop on the property which did get some patronage.
Sad to report that this Society is struggling and they may close this year due to lack of funding. They do own the literary rights to Millay’s works and own some 200 acres surrounding the home, but they have already sold off a large chunk of the ground to the State of New York as a forest preserve. Many of us have been to the Red Cloud area and seen the marvellous work and preservation of the Willa Cather Foundation. When comparing that to the Millay Society, one hopes their Trustees can see the way forward to maintain and grow another great American author’s legacy. Both were towering American literary figures, Pulitzer Prize winners and strong female advocates
We re-board the coach and head eastward towards the village of Hudson, New York. Enroute the sub sandwiches and chips are handed out as the coach rocked back and forth like a ship at sea; then silence rains down (just like outside) as we dine in quiet contemplation. Our destination is Olana, a New York State Historical site. This is the home of Frederic Edwin Church, a towering figure in the Hudson River School of painters, who specializes in large (like 8’ x 10’) landscape paintings.
Church designed this home after his around the world honeymoon tour. The home sits on a hilltop with commanding views of the Hudson River Valley and the Catskills mountains. The home, completed in 1870, was designed by Church and decorated in a Phoenician / Arabian motif. Again, most of the furnishings are original to the home so we received the by now, standard lecture to not touch, lean or sit on anything. We were admonished not to even touch the doors, as they were stencilled by the artist and so were works of art.
Although the home was chocked full of eclectic articles from church’s travels and hung through out with paintings, both of artists he admired, and some of his own studies and paintings, some of the true beauty here is the setting of the structure and the dramatic vistas. Although the rain continued to pour, the fog and cloudiness eventually lifted enough that we could get a feel for the views Church so admired and which he immortalized in some of his most renowned work.
We left Olana and headed back towards Albany and the airport for the last leg of our journey. We arrived at the airport around 4:15 and were checked in and sitting in the bar for a last gathering and discussions of the trip prior to our 6:30 departure. All flights were on time, even Chicago was not a hassle, and we landed back at Eppley at 10:30, 15 minutes behind schedule. After luggage and drop offs, we finally returned to our own beds by 12:45, a long day but a most fulfilling trip.
