November 2010

More than 150,000 works of art are on display on the 45-acre museum campus, spread throughout 39 exhibition buildings. Twenty-five of the buildings date from the 18th- and 19th- centuries, such as the 19th century lighthouse from Colchester Reef on Lake Champlain, the Shelburne village distillery, built in 1800 which is now home to the internationally known collection of quilts, and the restored 220-foot steamboat Ticonderoga, the only walking beam side-wheel passenger steamer still around.

The Museum offers a world class collection of objects that span the history of western art from the fourth century BC through the twentieth century. The Museum's founders, Louis and Charlotte Hyde, acquired the majority of objects during a fifty-year period of avid and highly informed collecting. Many of these works are displayed in their home, known as Hyde House, as well as select galleries in the education wing.

The permanent collection consists of approximately 2,800 paintings, sculpture, works on paper, furniture, and decorative arts. When the Hydes began collecting, their focus was not unlike that of their contemporaries. They acquired Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture by such artists as Botticelli, El Greco, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens. In their most important decisions, notable scholars William R. Valentiner and R. Langton Douglas often guided them.

The Museum is filled with memorabilia of an international operatic career spanning over 50 years, including paintings, sculptures, accolades, personal effects, music, and autographed photographs of Sembrich contemporaries such as Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Caruso, Liszt, Brahms and Puccini. Throughout the summer months, there are several planned events, such as concerts by renowned singers, composers, and musicians, and symposiums by opera historians. A schedule of the summer events is posted on the website. For further information about programs, write, call, or e-mail.

Focusing on the maritime history and nautical archaeology of the Champlain Valley, the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has artifacts and exhibits spread throughout more than a dozen buildings.

Located at Basin Harbor off Lake Champlain, the museum contains artifacts from some of the 200 documented shipwrecks in Lake Champlain. Visitors can see a handcrafted bateau modeled after the watercraft used by Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War, and watch a 15-minute video about the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776. Opened in 2001, the Maritime Research Institute is the research center for the museum and contains the Conservation Laboratory, responsible for the treatment of recovered artifacts.

The 28,000-square-foot museum, which owns more than 60,000 artifacts from southern Vermont and the surrounding area, contains the Grandma Moses Gallery, the largest collection of Mary Robertson's (Moses') paintings of nostalglic rural American life open to the public. Visitor's can view her self-decorated 18th-century tilt-top table, which she used as an easel, and the original, relocated schoolhouse that she attended. The Battle of Bennington exhibit documents the American victory over the British in 1777 through rare military artifacts, such as the Battle of Bennington Flag, one of the oldest battle flags in existence, and Vermont-manufactured firearms.

Marked by buoys and open to divers are seven of the 900 bateaux used during the British attack on Fort Carillon in the summer of 1758, as well as the 50-foot-long radeau Land Tortoise, the oldest intact war vessel in North America.

From 1755 to 1763, Britain and France fought in the French and Indian War. During the autumn of 1758, Lake George was a focal point for this struggle. One type of warship used by both sides in this conflict was the bateau (French for boat). Bateaux had flat bottoms, flaring sides and raked bows and sterns. They usually were propelled by oars and poles and steered by a stern sweep. Bateaux were typically 25 to 35 feet long. Built of pine planks with simple oak frames, bateaux could be produced rapidly and were widely employed in the eighteenth century for moving troops and supplies.

The Rosen House, built around a central courtyard, is the former summer home of Caramoor's founders Lucie Bigelow and Walter Tower Rosen. Resembling a Mediterranean villa, Rosen House was designed by Walter Rosen, with assistance from the architect Christian Rosborg, and was built between 1929 and 1939 to showcase the collection the Rosens had amassed through the years: Renaissance, 18th century, and Eastern art objects and furnishings - tapestries, sculpture, paintings, textiles, furniture, exquisite wall coverings, stained glass, Urbino Maiolica, and a major jade collection. Entire rooms were imported from European palaces and country manors. Today, twenty rooms are open to the public.

With its outstanding performances, engaging arts-in-education programming, the Rosen House, and grounds, Caramoor is a cornerstone of the cultural life of Westchester County. Since 1945 visitors have delighted in the exceptional music—from classical to opera to jazz—and the garden setting that makes Caramoor such a unique and treasured resource.

Radical abolitionist John Brown and his two sons purchased the 244-acre farm in 1849, before leading an assault on the U.S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry on October 16, 1859. Brown was buried at the farm after his trial, conviction, and execution for treason against the state of Virginia. The house has been restored to its condition at the time of Brown's death with some original furnishings.

The museum celebrates Columbia County's strong heritage of Shakers, an 18th century religion most noted for the singing, dancing, and marching that took place during worship, as well as the hymn, "Simple Gifts." Visitors can see Shaker furniture, textiles, tools, and agricultural machinery.

Located on the grounds of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, the museum contains examples of vehicles, boats, and railroad cars used in the Champlain Valley including Native American canoes, barges, ferries, and a rare restored 1915 luxury Type 82 Lozier automobile, at one time the most expensive car in America.