Off on another adventure with my longtime travel companion, Carolyn. Our journey to New England began with an early morning flight to Charlotte from Little Rock. About midway over Tennessee, the sun started to rise and there was a wonderful mix of light from the cities below with the eastern glow. As we approached Charlotte, castoff clouds from the remnants of Hurricane Ian began to dot the landscape below.
After landing in Charlotte, we treated ourselves with a day pass to the Admiral's Club since we had a bit of a layover. It was a great space to grab some food and wake up after the early morning.
The flight to Hartford (Bradley Int'l Airport) was fine, even with a bit of turbulence during our descent due to Ian off to our west. Rental car in hand, we headed northwest toward Catskill, NY. After passing into Massachusetts, we came upon a marker noting the location of the last battle of Shays' Rebellion: "a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787. The rebels were mostly ex-Revolutionary War soldiers-turned farmers who opposed state economic policies causing poverty and property foreclosures. The newly formed United States was governed by the Articles of Confederation, a document that many in the country felt was too weak to effectively manage the fledgling nation. The specter of Shays’ Rebellion informed the debate over the framing of a new U.S. Constitution, providing fuel to Alexander Hamilton and other Federalists who advocated for a strong federal government and diminished states’ rights." The marker also happens to be right along the Appalachian Trail.
We reached Catskill and stopped at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. "Cole (1801-1848) was an American artist and early environmentalist. He was an economic migrant and the founder of this nation’s first major art movement, now known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting." If you've ever seen an American landscape painting, you've probably seen a Cole. Cole's original house is here along with a rebuilt studio and a purple gazebo that is a temporary art exhibition. The museum was nice, but we were surprised there weren't more paintings to look at and that Cole's importance wasn't played up well. We are, however, starting to see more and more leaf color!
Another landscape painter made Catskill his home: Frederic Church. His house, Olana, is just across the Hudson and up on a bluff overlooking the valley. We didn't have time to tour the building, but walked around the grounds. Not only was Church a painter, but he was also a self-taught architect, farmer and landscape designer. He built Olana as a "Persian-inspired stone “fortress” situated high above the Hudson River with majestic views west to America’s promised land."
We headed west into the Catskill Mountains and arrived at Kaaterskill Falls about an hour before sunset. With the higher elevations, more leaves have begun to change and show their fall colors! "Considered by Native Americans to be the resting place of the creator, a sacred place for the Mohican people who called the Catskills home, Kaaterskill Falls has captivated the hearts, pens, and paintbrushes of poets, painters, filmmakers, and photographers." After parking, we took a short hike to the overlooking platform. Even though this part of the country has been experiencing a drought, the water thundered as it fell 260 feet over its two tiers. Easy to see why it has been included in so many art pieces over the years.
We enjoyed a fantastic dinner in downtown Catskill at New York Restaurant. This is a small town, but the downtown area was lively and full of energy on a chilly Saturday evening. We arrived outside Albany at our hotel a bit later and having completed a long first day, fell sound asleep very quickly. We head back into Massachusetts and then up to Vermont on day 2!
No comments:
Post a Comment