Living History
At Montgomery Place, the Past isn’t Preserved Behind Glass
By Hillary Brown
Photos by Rana Faure and Pieter
Montgomery Place sits on a sweeping bluff above the Hudson River near Red Hook, where the Catskills hover on the horizon and the Sawkill Creek rushes through a ravine thick with ancient trees. It was built in 1804 by Janet Livingston Montgomery, widow of Revolutionary War hero General Richard Montgomery, sister of Founding Father Robert R. Livingston (who administered the oath of office to George Washington), and a scion of one of the most powerful families in the region. A botanist at heart, Janet planted commercial orchards, ran a thriving nursery for fruit trees and berries, and remained there until her death in 1828.
After Janet’s brother Edward Livingston died in 1836, Montgomery Place was left in the hands of his wife, Louise, and daughter, Cora. It was this mother-daughter duo who brought a grander vision and a gifted architect to the estate. Alexander Jackson Davis, whose country house commissions made him one of the most sought-after architects of the era, believed that buildings should live in harmony with their surroundings, a philosophy that helped define the Romantic movement in American design. He spent three decades reshaping the estate, transforming the original Federal-style mansion into a neoclassical country retreat. Cora, in particular, forged a close creative partnership with Davis’s friend Andrew Jackson Downing, considered the father of American landscape architecture and the force behind the property’s exceptional gardens, walking trails, and arboretum.
In 2016, Bard College acquired the adjacent 380-acre estate, which sits just south of its main campus. The work of stewarding it all–the mansion and its outbuildings, an 80-acre old-growth forest, and a collection of more than 8,000 objects–is very much an ongoing project. The college’s undergraduates and faculty are a constant presence, from photography students documenting the archives to professors using the grounds as a living classroom. The Archaeology Department is currently excavating the site of the old conservatory to uncover the story of Alexander Gilson, who was born into slavery and later became Montgomery Place’s renowned head gardener for several decades, cultivating two plant varieties that bear his name. “The place has come alive again,” says site director Kathleen McManus of the designated National Historic Landmark. Locals and visitors enjoy free access to the gardens and walking trails year-round, and McManus is clear about the spirit behind that. “We’re about preservation and keeping a low footprint, but we don’t want to be a stodgy white-glove environment.” She and her colleagues have been creating an array of events for the public, from seasonal tours of the mansion to themed lectures and self-guided garden tours.
Roughly 60 of the estate’s 380 acres are Montgomery Place Orchards, a working farm that Talea and Doug Taylor have run independently for the last 40 years. “I think we are the fifth or sixth family to call this place home,” Talea notes of the 1860s Davis-designed farmhouse where they raised their daughter Caroline. What the Taylors have cultivated is impressive: nearly 70 apple varieties, up from eight when they arrived in 1987, ranged from beloved classics to rediscovered antiques, plus pears, peaches, and a farm kitchen turning out pestos, jams, ciders, and pies, all available at their Wayside Stand on Route 9G. The building was designed byVioletta Delafield, one of the last Livingstons to live at Montgomery Place, and debuted at the 1935 Dutchess County Fair as a model for roadside farm stands.
Today the Wayside Stand is managed by Caroline and functions like a co-op, spotlighting over 70 neighboring farms and small businesses alongside their own. “It helps us realize how long we’ve been part of this community,” says Talea. With a young grandson soon to learn the ropes, the agricultural legacy that Janet first sowed into the land two centuries ago shows no signs of
stopping.
Montgomery Place, Red Hook. Grounds free and open year-round; bard.edu/montgomeryplace.
The Wayside Stand: Route 9G, Red Hook; open mid-May through November; montgomery-place-orchards.com
