It’s a Wrap! A Tremendous What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley
Organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley (June 6–7, 2026) featured two dozen expert-led tours throughout New York’s Columbia, Greene, Albany, and Rensselaer Counties. Attendees traveled from near and far, including Colorado, Kentucky, Virginia, and Vermont, to discover the landscapes that inspired, and were in turn shaped by, generations of artists, landscape architects, and designers. Expert guides revealed the landscape legacies of diverse sites, from the estates of famed Hudson River School landscape painters Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, to rural cemeteries, public parks, campuses, and institutional grounds.
The program kicked off with a reception hosted by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Park, the Picturesque, 250-acre hilltop estate designed by Frederic Church from 1860 to 1889 as a work of art. Attendees, including dozens of enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guides and volunteers, congregated for drinks and light bites at the new Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape, designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW) and Architecture Research Office in 2024. Guests received copies of the new, profusely illustrated, 48-page What’s Out There Upper Hudson Valley guidebook (available for purchase and as a free downloadable PDF). The guidebook complements the free, online What’s Out There Mid- and Upper Hudson Valley Guide, which was recently expanded to include a revised illustrated introduction, nearly 90 landscape profiles, 70 written biographies, and hundreds of photographs.
During the reception Thomas Woltz, FASLA (TCLF Board Co-Chair and Senior Principal and Owner of NBW) addressed the attendees, reflecting on the fifteen-year long relationship between TCLF and The Olana Partnership. He also commemorated late landscape architect Robin Key, FASLA, who tragically passed away on April 30, 2026. A member of TCLF’s Stewardship Council and Co-Chair of the Board of The Olana Partnership, Key not only played an important role in advancing the stewardship and interpretation of Olana but was also a longtime source of inspiration to her family, friends, and colleagues.
The next day, people of all ages attended tours of nearly twenty landscapes from Troy to Hudson. In Albany attendees toured the Modernist grounds of University at Albany, Uptown Campus / State University of New York. At Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, participants walked the curvilinear drives laid out by landscape gardener James Sidney in the nineteenth century. Further south in Austerlitz, Mark O’Berski (The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society Board of Trustees) welcomed guests to Steepletop, the rural retreat of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her husband Eugen Boissevain. O’Berski “enjoyed sharing this magical landscape that Millay called home for 25-years with a group that largely was familiar with the poet and her work. To see the actual places in nature that inspired her poetry is a great way for folks to truly understand the inspiration in her words.”
At Olana, Woltz and Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, revealed the design of the new Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape, demonstrating how they sited the building to protect historic viewsheds. After, Woltz led a second group to the property’s summit, revealing Church’s design intent and how NBW guided the rehabilitation of the grounds. Here, attendees marveled at the property’s expansive borrowed views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains beyond.
Further west at Mountain Top Arboretum, one of the day’s final tours, landscape architect Jamie Purinton and horticulturist Sammy Winderman led participants through meadows and woodlands, pointing out native plants and the inspiration behind a naturalistic outdoor classroom (designed by Purinton) tucked into the forest. The day concluded with two tours in Hudson—Promenade Hill Park and Public Square / 7th Street Park—led by Gail Wittwer-Laird, FAAR (Principal of Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners).
On Sunday, attendees gathered for eight more tours. At Albany Rural Cemetery, Michael Radlick, Ph.D., and Lynn Radlick, Ph.D., presented the work of David Bates Douglass, and across the river at Prospect Park, Kathy Sheehan revealed the legacy of Garnet Douglass Baltimore, a pioneering African American landscape and civil engineer. Further south, participants were treated to a sneak peak of Art Omi Pavilions, a new arts campus, scheduled to open to the public in Spring 2027.
The day ended with two tours in Kinderhook: Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and Persons of Color Cemetery. At the latter, guides revealed how the community came together to rehabilitee the 0.31-acre burial ground, established in 1816 to serve the town’s African American community. Featured in both the free online What’s Out There Mid- and Upper Hudson Valley Guide and What’s Out There Guide to African American Cultural Landscapes, the burial ground is one of several African American landscapes throughout the region that have been discovered and daylit in recent years.
Participants lauded What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley. One attendee expressed that the weekend event provided, “a fresh perspective on well-known sites” and another thanked TCLF “for organizing this event and spotlighting the Upper Hudson Valley!"
Reflecting on the weekend, Thomas Woltz wrote, “When people experience a cultural landscape and connect with the stories it holds, something shifts. What's Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley is the kind of event that reminds us why this work matters. The Cultural Landscape Foundation helps turn fresh attention into deep appreciation and advocacy."
What’s Out There Weekend Upper Hudson Valley was made possible by the support of Lead Sponsors, the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. Additional thanks go to Presenting Sponsors, Hollander Design Landscape Architects, Vermont Quarries; Educational Partners, ASLA New York Upstate, The Olana Partnership; and a cadre of supporting sponsors and friends. Also essential to the event’s success was the support of former TCLF board member, Rebecca Trafton, and many local partners, including Gail Wittwer-Laird, the staff at The Olana Partnership, and all those who generously volunteered their time and knowledge.
