Thomas Cole National Historic Site

Thomas Cole was a founder of the Hudson River School of American Painting and is widely regarded as the father of American landscape painting, yet he was born and raised in England. He came to America at age 17, first to Ohio, then Philadelphia, then eventually to Catskill, N.Y., where he rented studio space from Jonn Thomson.

It was in N.Y. where he met and married Thomson’s niece Maria Bartow in 1836 when Cole was 35 and Maria was 23. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, N.Y., also known as Cedar Grove and actually owned by Thomson, was Cole’s residence and studio from 1833 until his early death in 1848 at age 47 of pleurisy.

The view off the left side of the porch is the cover photo to this post, and is featured in some of Cole’s paintings.

This untitled painting of Cedar Grove was painted by Charles Herbert Moore in 1868; it is believed that the young ladies on the steps are Cole’s daughters Mary and Emily.

The three-story home is situated on lush land right above the Hudson River, an area providing much inspiration to Cole. He worried constantly about the scars man left on the land, building polluting mines and clear-cutting timber.

Cole was a successful artist, doing many commission paintings and eventually able to support himself through his original paintings alone.

He wrote of his home, “I often look at our house and think how wonderful that so much of happiness should be comprised in that little spot.”

The home originally sat on 155 acres, but by the 1880s the family’s financial situation had deteriorated, and the land began being sold off. A public road and reservoir further reduced the footprint of the land.

By the 1960s structures were in disrepair, flower beds were abandoned, and Cole’s paintings were being sold off. The cottage Cole used as a studio was demolished.

Restoration didn’t begin until the 1980s, and the home was opened to the public in 2001; the studio was reconstructed in 2016. Given the circumstances, it was surprising there were as many original and family-owned objects as there were.

Cole’s daughter Emily (1843-1913), who was just five when her father died, was the only one of his children to pursue painting; she was known for her botanicals and hand-painted china, including this tea set.

Susie M. Barstow’s *Pool in the Woods*, 1885. This painting was purchased by Henry Ward Beecher, brother of the famous author Harriet Beecher Stowe.

We enjoyed seeing some of Cole’s works and it was interesting to walk in the landscapes he painted.

We also really liked the current exhibit featuring women landscape artists (Women Reframe American Landscape) in the reconstructed studio, especially Susie Barstow, who seemed like a real personality.

However, the modern art installation incorporated into the main house felt out of place, and we did not feel like we had a sense of Cole from the tour, and needed to do some research after the fact.

The fourth highest peak in the Catskills is named Thomas Cole Mountain in his honor.

Frederic Edwin Church, another famed Hudson River School artist, was a student and eventually close friend of Cole’s. His nearby estate, Olana, is a wonderful destination that we visited and toured several years ago and highly recommend.