Hudson River Valley - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 917

South of town, history is played on an even grander stage at Boscobel, the first of sev-
eral riverfront mansions along the drive. Built in 1804 by States Morris Dyckman and his
wife, Elizabeth, descendants of Dutch settlers, Boscobel was originally located 15 miles
downriver. Slated for demolition in the 1950s, it received a last-minute reprieve when it
was dismantled and moved to its present site. Surrounded by green lawns and gardens, it
sits high on a bluff with a grand view south toward Bear Mountain. As special as it is on
the outside, it is Boscobel's sumptuous interior that draws visitors year after year.
6. Manitoga
Forest or garden? Work of nature, or of man? Manitoga is all of these, and more. When in-
dustrial designer Russel Wright purchased this 80-acre parcel on the east bank of the Hud-
son River in 1942, it was a tangled junk heap, scarred by decades of lumbering, quarrying,
and human carelessness.
Wright, whose designs were celebrated the world over for their use of organic forms,
chose Manitoga for his greatest work of all and, over the next 30 years, shepherded it back
to health. Although the landscape seems guided by no force but nature, Wright's handi-
work in fact is everywhere. Each detail is carefully scripted, like the furnishings of a grand
outdoor room. A network of paths, made of stone reclaimed from the quarries, escorts you
through the property, from view to view.
7. Tarrytown
Clustered along the river in Tarrytown and its bordering hamlets, a trio ofestates showcase
several different eras of life in the Hudson Valley. Philipsburg Manor, in Sleepy Hollow
(formerlyNorthTarrytown),wasoncethehomeofAdolphPhilipse,an18th-centuryDutch
Colonial trader; his stone house, a reconstructed gristmill, and a working farm all are on
publicdisplay,withexhibitsandauthenticarchitecturedatingtoColonialtimes.Lyndhurst,
a Gothic Revival home, has an impressive list of former residents, from a New York City
mayor to a railroad tycoon—and the Hudson River to serve as its backyard. Last but not
least, in Irvington, is Sunnyside, the noted and carefully preserved mid-19th-century home
of author Washington Irving.
Did you know…
In 1835 Washington Irving—author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip
Van Winkle—bought a two-room Dutch stone house on the banks of the Hud-
son. He expanded and renovated the building, adding Tudor-style clustered
chimneys, Dutch stepped gables, Gothic windows, and a Spanish tower and