Hudson River Valley
It
was 1609. Henry Hudson, sailing under flag of Dutch East India Company, was searching for the elusive Northwest Passage. He did not find it, but he did discover the magnificent Hudson River, 320 miles of it, from what we know as New York City north
to Albany, the 2nd capital of New York State. Along its shores came many industries, institutions of higher learning, mansions
of the rich and famous, and vistas for photographers, artists, sculptors, to permanently imprint its beauty for the history books.
It is a land to discover, to enjoy, to remember forever.
IDEA CENTER
for Tour Operators, Wholesalers, Group Leaders,
Clubs, Banks, Schools, and Meeting Planners
whose groups of 30 or more persons are traveling by motorcoach.
Let Hayfield Tours prepare an exciting tour for your group
from the Idea Center or from an idea of your own.
NOTE: These tours are NOT for individual travelers.
..........................Contact your local Tour Operator, AAA, Bus Company or Receptive for tours you can join.
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INDEX OF HUDSON VALLEY TOURS
Tour # HV-1 - Hudson River Valley Heritage
Tour # HV-2 - Mohonk and the Huguenots
Tour # HV-3 - Presidential Homes
Tour # HV-4 - Toot Toot
Tour # HV-5 - Hyde Park & More
Tour # HV-6 - Garlic Festival
Tour # HV-7 - Gardens & Sculptures
Tour # HV-8 - Mediterranean Caramoor
Tour # HV-9 - West Point Parade
Tour # HV-10 - Cloisters
Tour # HV-11 - Mansions of the Rich
Tour # HV-12 - N.Y. Botanical Gardens
Tour # HV-14 - Ellis Island
Tour # HV-15 - The Blaze
Tour # HV-16 - Walk on Water
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Tour # HV-1 - HUDSON RIVER VALLEY HERITAGE
Most complete tour of the Hudson Valley! 2009 was 400th Anniversary of Discovery of Hudson River by Henry Hudson, sailing north from New York City to Albany on the “Half Moon”. We’ll follow his footsteps and discover the old and new.
TARRYTOWN
* Union Church of Pocantico Hills. Intimate church of the Rockefellers with windows by Matisse and Chagall.
* Lyndhurst. One of finest Gothic Revival structures in America.
* Kykuit. Home to 4 Rockefeller generations. Extensive tour of house, grounds, galleries, and barns.
* Hudson River Dinner. Overlooking one of New York’s magnificent bridges.
POUGHKEEPSIE
* Dinner. Georgian Colonial mansion.
* Locust Grove. 19th-century country estate of Samuel F. B Morse Historic Site, one of most respected painter of his time, known mostly for invention of telegraph.
HYDE PARK
* Roosevelt Home, Library, Cemetery. Complex shows life in America, its trials, tribulations, joys, splendor, all
under guidance of this president.
* Lunch at CIA. Oldest, most prestigious culinary institution in America. Tour kitchens, meals served by students.
* Vanderbilt Mansion. A class unto itself, mansion and history is unforgettable. Grandson of “The Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt.
KINGSTON
* Cruise Hudson River. Sprawling lawns and mansions of the rich of yesteryear, lighthouse with resident kitty, monasteries, wildlife, more.
* City Tour. First capital of New York State.
* Dinner. 1679 historic stockade district.
NEW PALTZ
* Huguenot Street. 1678 oldest street in America, original homes still standing, original cemetery, church.
* Mohonk Mountain House. Buffet lunch, carriage ride thru forest to Sky Top, unbelievable castle deep in Catskill Mts.
WEST POINT
* West Point Tour. Full complex tour with local step-on.
* Lunch at Hotel Thayer. Historic hotel, luncheon buffet you will not want to miss.
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Tour # HV-2 -
MOHONK & THE HUGUENOTS
Presidents met here, rich and famous vacationed here, tourists meet here. The resort of all resorts.
NEW PALTZ
* Lunch at Mohonk Mountain House. 265-room sprawling Victorian castle, tucked away at top of Shawangunk Ridge. Award-winning Show Gardens and grounds, Gourmet Lunch Buffet, wagon ride thru forest to top of Sky Top Tower for breathtaking view of Catskill Mts.
* Historic 1678 Huguenot Street. Oldest street in country, 7 unique stone houses still in use for tours, burial ground, reconstructed 1717 stone church, original setting. Step back into time of French Huguenots who escaped persecution
in their homeland.
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Tour # HV-3 - PRESIDENTIAL HOMES
New York State has many political icons, including 3 presidents. Visit their homes and look into their lives.
NEWBURGH
* George Washington, "Hasbrouck". 1st Pres. 1789-1797. First official historic site in U.S.
Washington lived here for 18 months waiting signatures on closure of Revolutionary War. Tower of Victory marks end of war.
KINDERHOOK
* Martin Van Buren, "Lindenwald". 8th Pres. 1837-1841. Dutch heritage. Known as "The Little Magician" and "The Red Fox". Modest farmhouse 1782, later remodeled into Italiannate.
HYDE PARK
* Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Springwood”. 32nd Pres. 1933-1945. Dutch heritage, Huguenot lineage. Estate includes Information Center, movie on life and history of Roosevelt, Library of historic proportions and content, modest home, cemetery of Roosevelts and Fala.
* Lunch at CIA - Culinary Institute of America. 60 years the world's premier culinary college, second to none.
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Tour # HV-4 - TOOT TOOT
Trains and boats are the child in us all. Enjoy them both on this tour.
KINGSTON
* Rip Van Winkle Flyer Luncheon Train. Ride thru scenic Catskills, lunch in vintage dining car.
* Rip Van Winkle Cruise Boat. One of nicest cruises on Upper Hudson River, sprawling lawns and mansions of the rich, lighthouses, monasteries, wildlife.
* Chocolate Factory. Start of heaven is here!
* Dinner in the Stockade. One of few remaining buildings left from burning of Kingston, now historic restaurant.
* Tour of historic Kingston. First Capital of New York State.
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Tour # HV-5 -
HYDE PARK & MORE
The rich and famous built cultural institutions all along the Valley.
HYDE PARK
* Lunch at CIA. Tour college kitchens, lunch prepared by students and overseen by instructors.
POUGHKEEPSIE
* Vassar College at Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center. Open to public, impressive art center with unusual works.
* Dinner on the Hudson River. One of newest restaurants directly on Hudson River for beautiful sunset views.
* Locust Grove. Home of inventor Samuel Morse
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Tour # HV-6 - GARLIC FESTIVAL
If you love garlic, this is the place for you! Everything is garlic!
SAUGERTIES
* Garlic Festival in Saugerties near Hunter Mt. Garlic Marketplace with freshly harvested, cold hardy garlic stock,
52 different kinds! Garlic Food Alley with tastings. Garlic lectures, demonstrations. Arts and Crafts Market. 5 stages
of entertainment.
* Mystery Stop.
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Tour # HV-7 - GARDENS & SCULPTURES
Southern Hudson Valley offers some unusual sites. Here are some.
MOUNTAINVILLE
* Storm King Sculpture Park & Museum. Park and museum founded 1960, 500 acres of lawns, fields, hills, forests. Sculpture mostly displayed on grounds, predominantly abstract, often monumental in scale. Collection 13 large works
by David Smith.
SPRING VALLEY
* Matterhorn Nursery. More than award winning garden center, a destination! Includes just about anything one might need for the home, inside and out.
* Lunch at Gasho. Riotous experience, great food.
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Tour # HV-8 - MEDITERRANEAN CARAMOOR
Another secret in Hudson Valley, a cultural center like no other.
KATONA
* Caramoor Hi Tea. Sitting high on hill, mansion has 20-rooms, art, gardens, 1928 Mediterranean architecture, vast collection of Renaissance, Eastern, Medieval art, antiques from European palaces. Put up the pinky, enjoy Hi Tea.
SLEEPY HOLLOW
* Lunch. Overlooking Hudson River and Tapanzee Bridge. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Tour # HV-9 - WEST POINT PARADE
May 1, 2010 ONLY
Only one of its kind in America.
WEST POINT
* U.S. Military Academy at West Point - Cadet Parade. Annual celebration of Gen. Kosciuskos, brilliant military engineer who designed West Point campus. Over 4,000 cadets show precision marches, weapon salutes, band music. Parachute jumpers demonstrate precision landing.
* Tour of West Point. With local step-on.
* Lunch at Hotel Thayer. Set on hilltop, 1926 national historic granite landmark, Hudson River dramatic views, Hudson Highlands, historic Constitution Island. Alfresco dining.
* West Point Museum. Oldest and largest diversified public military collection in Western Hemisphere.
NOTE: West Point - without Parade - any time. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Tour # HV-10 - CLOISTERS
Known as "the crowning achievement of American museology".
FORT TRYON
* Cloisters. Metropolitan Museum of Art collection of 5000+ art and architecture from medieval Europe dating 800-1200 A.D. Castle-like building contains original stones from French cloisters, brought over and meticulously reassembled. Beautiful tapestries, religious statues, breathtaking gold, silver, bronze, ivory works, stained-glass windows. Unusual
gift shop. Grounds striking with views of Hudson River, thanks to John D. Rockefeller.
* New Leaf Cafe Lunch. Enterprise of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, proceeds go to on-going work in parks of northern Manhattan. _____________________________________________________________________________________
Tour # HV-11 - MANSIONS OF THE RICH
The rich and the creative settled along the Hudson River, inspired by its beauty and its proximity to New York City.
POUGHKEEPSIE
* Locust Grove. Home of inventor Samuel Morse, containing exquisite artwork and telegraphic equipment.
GARRISON
* Boscobel. Neoclassic mansion featuring decorative arts from Federal Period. Rose gardens, gallery, grand vistas of Hudson River.
* Picnic Lunch
TARRYTOWN
* Lyndhurst. America’s premier 1838 dramatic Gothic Revival mansion with elaborately decorated rooms, stained glass and artwork, large landscaped grounds, rose garden, spectacular views of Hudson River.
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Tour # HV-12 - NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDENS
Across 250 exquisite acres, Botanical Garden features 50 gardens, plant collections, landmark conservatory. “All aboard” for magic.
BRONX
* Holiday Train Show. Across Botanical Gardens Conservatory stretches wondrous landscapes featuring replicas
of more than 100 NYC landmarks made entirely from berries, mushrooms, pine cones, twigs. Narrated Tram Tour to
get around Garden's 250 acres. Hop off and explore at any of the five stops.
* Lunch. At the Gardens.
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Tour # HV-13 - ELLIS ISLAND
Welcome to America! Those words rang through the hearts and souls of those immigrants who made our country what
it is today. They are immortalized here.
MANHATTAN
* Battery Park
* Ellis Island. Tour and Exhibits.
* Island of Hope, Island of Tears Video
* Rubbing Supplies given for rubbing of ancestor names on Wall of Honor.
* Ground Zero. Short visit of respect.
NOTE: For overnight, add Cruise around Manhattan for spectacular look at this great city.
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Tour # HV-14 - THE BLAZE
Boo! This tour is not just for kids. Mixed in with magnificent mansions comes history of the Headless Horseman, scarecrows and the most amazing display of carved pumpkins you have ever seen.
SLEEPY HOLLOW
* Lyndhurst Mansion and “The Scarecrow Invasion.” Over 400 scarecrows stand on front lawn, made by local children. Tour of mansion.
* Dinner. Local favorite restaurant.
* Phillipsburg Manor and “The Legends”. See the Headless Horseman riding in the dark, shows, ghosts, other fun spooky things. Great gift store. Hot chocolate.
* Van Cortland Manor and “The Blaze”. 4000+ carved illuminated pumpkins in woodsy riverside landscape with breathtaking artistic displays of ghosts, goblins, skeletons, mummies, fish, flowers, mushrooms, clowns, animals, snakes, spider webs, dinosaurs, dancing hands, more. Unbelievable!
* Sunnyside. 1835 home of author Washington Irving of “The Headless Horseman.”
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