Landscape Information
Located approximately one mile west of the Hudson River and essayist John Burroughs’s Riverby estate, this topographically varied 200-acre park includes nine acres of land developed by Burroughs as a summer retreat. In 1895 Burroughs established this secluded home in the forest, where he could commune with nature, write, and host friends and colleagues.
Aided by a carpenter, Burroughs constructed a rustic, one-room cabin—dubbed Slabsides for its bark-covered siding—below a rocky outcrop. With the assistance of a farmer, he also drained a swamp for crop cultivation, such as celery, which supplemented his modest writing income.
Burroughs found inspiration in the site’s expansive woodlands, which he called “Whitman Land,” honoring his close friend Walt Whitman. He wrote extensively, influencing national audiences and shaping popular attitudes toward the natural world. At Slabsides, Burroughs hosted thousands of visitors, among them public admirers, like-minded friends (Whitman and John Muir), students from nearby Vassar College, inventors (Henry Ford and Thomas Edison), and President Theodore Roosevelt. Following Burroughs’s death, Ford acquired the property and, in 1923, conveyed it to the non-profit John Burroughs Memorial Association (now John Burroughs Association). Additional acreage was acquired; in 1966 the property opened to the public.
Today, a four-and-a-half-mile network of trails leads visitors through hemlock forests and along an elongated pond. Burroughs’s cropland has transitioned back to a swamp, now characterized by red maple trees and other water-tolerant species. At its northern end, the swamp narrows to meet a clearing and the cabin, which was rehabilitated in 2007.
Slabsides, John Burroughs Study was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. The property is located within the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, designated in 1996.
