THE ADVENTURE COLLECTIVE® · Independent discovery and booking for outdoor travel
Spend a Sunday afternoon with Curator Emerita Dr. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser as she unpacks the oil sketches of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. This Salon pairs close-looking with on-site context in Catskill’s 1846 New Studio.
Spend a Sunday afternoon with Curator Emerita Dr. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser as she unpacks the oil sketches of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. This Salon pairs close-looking with on-site context in Catskill’s 1846 New Studio.
Book with Thomas Cole National Historic Site
Verified experiences and guided adventures in the surrounding area.
Operated by Thomas Cole National Historic Site · Catskill, New York
On a bright Sunday afternoon at the Thomas Cole site in Catskill, New York, visitors gather in the 1846 New Studio for a close look at the sketches that launched an American art movement. The Sunday Salon Lecture "Thomas Cole and Frederic Church: Mastering the Landscape Oil Sketch" with Elizabeth Kornhauser, Ph.D. translates museum-quality scholarship into immediate, visual storytelling: how quick oil studies captured light, atmosphere, and compositional decisions that later matured into sweeping finished paintings.
Dr. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser—Curator Emerita at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Senior Curator and Chair of The Frederic Church Bicentennial Committee—guides the conversation. Her career-long study of Cole and Church brings provenance, technique, and anecdotes that illuminate sketches from the 19th-century Hudson River School. The lecture takes place in the 1846 New Studio; participants also receive 50% off general admission for the day, and the historic buildings (open 11 am–4 pm) are available for exploration before or after the Salon.
The setting matters: Catskill sits on the east side of the Hudson Valley and the site’s Main House, Cole Center, and New Studio provide close-up encounters with period architecture and original oil sketches. Key features include the 1846 New Studio interior, the Main House porch with its elevation views, and nearby grounds where the gravel paths and rolling lawns lead to vantage points over the valley. Unique elements to watch for are the intimate oil-on-paper sketch studies, original studio fixtures, and views of the Catskill escarpment that inspired these painters.
Practical details: arrive at the Cole Center and use the Spring Street entrance; parking is free in the lot shared with Temple Israel. The program is wheelchair accessible; note that walking paths are loose gravel and some rooms require stairs. Tickets are non-refundable; late arrivals will be accommodated when possible but cannot be guaranteed entry.
Why book this Salon? It’s rare to hear museum-quality interpretation from a curator directly involved in major exhibitions, and to pair that insight with on-site viewing of spaces where Cole worked. For artists, historians, and curious travelers, the Salon reframes familiar Hudson Valley scenery as pedagogical material—showing how a quick oil sketch becomes a finished vista.
Bring a sketchbook, camera, and comfortable shoes, and plan to linger afterward among the Main House rooms and Cole Center exhibits to stitch the lecture into a full-day cultural walk through American landscape history. Check in at the Cole Center using the Spring Street entrance and allow a few minutes for ticketing; for questions email [email protected] or call 518-943-7465 ext. 122. The site offers a free digital guide via Bloomberg Connects, umbrellas available for loan, and a wheelchair on request—small services that make a focused afternoon of art more accessible and comfortable.
Tickets are non-refundable.
Yes. The Cole Center, Storehouse, and 1846 New Studio are wheelchair accessible; the Main House first floor is accessible via an elevator lift. Note that walking paths are loose gravel.
Please arrive at the Cole Center and use the Spring Street entrance for check-in.
Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Pets are welcome on the grounds if leashed, but they may not enter buildings or porches; service animals are welcome.
Email [email protected] (preferred) or call 518-943-7465 ext. 122.
Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, New York preserves the home, studio, and landscape associated with Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School. The site presents guided and self-guided visits, rotating exhibitions, hands-on workshops, seasonal festivals, and group tour packages for diverse audiences. Programs include curator-led tours, Sunday Salon talks, artist and curator roundtables, craft workshops such as needle-felting and pressed-flower making, plant-dyeing classes, educational teacher workshops, and family events tied to harvest celebrations. The site also interprets Emily Cole’s legacy through exhibitions that feature painted porcelain, works on paper, and contemporary responses to her art. Museum educators and trained Museum Guides lead visits and workshops, and collaborating historians, curators, and artists contribute expertise to public programs. Group visits accommodate 12 to 40 participants with guided experiences up to seventy-five minutes, followed by access to the on-site gift shop. Special events have included partnerships with local organizations such as Wild Hudson Valley and Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, highlighting regional ecology, agricultural history, and community creativity. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site operates as a steward of historic architecture, landscape, and artistic legacy, offering accessible educational programming for families, students, art lovers, and historians. Visitors to the site encounter curated exhibitions, interactive activities, and opportunities to learn about early nineteenth-century American art and environmental ideas that informed Thomas Cole’s work. Trained Museum Guides answer questions and enhance interpretation for visitors; special exhibitions, rotating programs, and partnerships connect Cole’s art to landscape, regional history, ecological themes, and contemporary artistic practice and education.
Book with Thomas Cole National Historic Site