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<br /> 250- acre estate . He wrote in an unpublished letter in 1884 to mountains and river under a broad purple wash of sky.
<br /> "I have "To be perfectly honest," says Rosenberg, pointing to the girl,
<br /> Erastus Dow Palmer, a famous 19th-century sculptor :
<br /> made about 13/a miles of road this season, opening entirely new "that's what we're working for. That's why it's so important to
<br /> and beautiful views—I can make more and better landscapes in preserve these views , "
<br /> this way than by tampering with canvas and paint in the studio. " I
<br /> A century later, much of Church' s landscaping is over-
<br /> grown with sumac and saplings ; his reflecting ponds are silted N THE EARLY DARKNESS of an August morning I pack a
<br /> over, and his orchards and carriage roads are thickets. Olana flashlight, a notebook, and an umbrella into my car and
<br /> stands to receive $ 750 , 000 from the Athens Generating mitiga- drive eight miles west of the Hudson to Pine Orchard. I rush
<br /> tion trust, and plans to use the money to take the estate back to to reach the mountain ledge in time to see the sunrise and land-
<br /> 1890 . The goal is to use the voluminous estate records and photo scape that launched Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School.
<br /> tographs to present Olana exactly as Church saw it when he From the rocky overlook, several thousand feet high , the
<br /> wandered out of his mansion with paint and canvas . Hudson Valley unfolds before me. Clouds stained scarlet from
<br /> On the grassy spread in front of Olana, Steve Rosenberg, the morning light gather vast and luminous over ridges serrated
<br /> director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, surveys the Hudson with pines . I feel ashamed to admit how quickly the place
<br /> River in hazy, cicada-buzzing summer heat. He hopes to acquire seizes me . Under some romantic spell , I ponder the scenery—
<br /> as much land visible from Olana as possible, purchasing property perfect, awesome , sublime ,
<br /> and development rights from farmers and other private landown- But as the sun rises red to yellow, the fantasy vanishes like the
<br /> ers . Spreading a large map too heavy mists rolling off the ,
<br /> of the mid-Hudson on the : .Y Hudson . A raking light
<br /> lawn in front of Church' s moves across the valley
<br /> studio , he points to green � ! f.r revealing aline of transmis- i
<br /> squares of lands , indicating d ;� .� ` sion wires that thread the
<br /> the 738 acres owned or con- 3F foothills like steely sutures. A
<br /> trolled by the Scenic Hud- railroad and several sprawl-
<br /> son Land Trust . The Athens ing warehouses appear at the i
<br /> power plant will be visible river's edge . I recognize the
<br /> from Church's studio , and site of the Athens generating
<br /> Rosenberg hopes to remove _ ` . _ plant and spot where St .
<br /> rr
<br /> land from the market to re- ° I p Lawrence proposes to erect E
<br /> vent other industrial projects - = _ - - - = its cement factory.
<br /> from spoiling the view, Overall the scene remains
<br /> I lot
<br /> He looks out at the river,
<br /> beautiful. The industrial ele- ( '
<br /> a broad but gentle arc of ments would not yet prevent
<br /> water curvingtoward the horizon. "It's satisfying to know that somephotographer from comin u here and sna 111 roll after ►
<br /> fY g g P PP g
<br /> we're preserving the scenery that Frederic Church looked out roll of picture-perfect postcards . But these details , these imperfect
<br /> onto in the 19th century, " he says. "This is for posterity. " artifacts, wake me from the dream.
<br /> But can one restore a landscape the way one restores a Walking back over the rocks , I notice they' re covered with
<br /> I
<br /> house? Can we preserve the view that Church saw in the 1890s centuries of graT'iti the names and initials of the many roman- I
<br /> as he walked out onto this lawn in his slippers? More important, tic souls who climbed these steep mountain trails to view the val-
<br /> should wO When does the Hudson River Valley, as a result of ley through the eyes of the Hudson River School . In their crisp (! .
<br /> our protection, cease to be a living, dynamic community and serif script they read like tombstones :
<br /> begin to resemble a museum, a memorial to dead painters? H. R.-1828
<br /> "Each new generation must decide for itself how to interpret J. Baily, Phil .- 1845
<br /> this landscape," Rosenberg says. "We're trying to guarantee that Lenore-1891 ,
<br /> future generations have that chance . Obviously, some devel. Reading over the names, I pause and wonder if the Hudson
<br /> opment must be allowed to progress, but not if it interferes with Valley will ever achieve a perfect balance between its industry
<br /> the character of this place . " and scenery. I wonder if one will ever be able to climb to these I
<br /> A young girl , perhaps 9 or 10 years old, rests in the grass a mountain ledges and see the valley exactly as Thomas Cole saw
<br /> few yards in front of us . Lying on her stomach with her legs it romantic, and wild.
<br /> folded behind her, she dips a small brush into a glass canning Behind me , a raven croaks an answer. From the top of a
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<br /> jar, muddy from her watercolors . In front of her, spread across hemlock, it dives with a flash of black wings , gliding low and i
<br /> the grass, lie several large sheets of paper, each a scene of the heavy like a shadow over the rocks and into the valley. n I
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<br /> NOVEMBERIDECEMBER 2001 41
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