American Basswood

Bard Rock

In 1905, Frederick Vanderbilt purchased this tract reuniting it to Hyde Park estate grounds as it had been during earlier ownership. Vanderbilt removed numerous buildings from the area, retaining only a Boat House (removed by the National Park Service in 1953).

• A rocky outcrop on the shore of a vast river.

Black Oak

Chestnut Oak

Cutleaf Beech

Eastern Hemlock

Eastern Hophornbeam

Eastern White Pine

Entrance Hall

Flowering Dogwood

Ginkgo

Hackberry

Honey Locust

Horse-chestnut

Kentucky Coffee-Tree

Littleleaf Linden

Mr. Vanderbilt's Office

Northern Red Oak

Northern White Cedar

Norway Spruce

Purple Beech

Silver Maple

Sugar Maple

Tamarack

The Butler Describes a Visit

The Den

The Dining Room

The Gardens

• A terraced garden with gravel walks, brick structures, pavilions, pergolas, reflecting pools, and statuary.

The Grand Staircase

The Living Room

The Pavilion at Hyde Park

Sporting architecture was a unique feature of country house life in America. Playhouses, as they were generally known, were an entirely American tradition. The playhouse reflects the enthusiasm for sport in America in the late nineteenth century. These buildings also included living rooms, bedrooms, baths, kitchens, and servant quarters. McKim, Mead and White were the leading architects of such buildings and designed the sporting pavilion for the Vanderbilts at Hyde Park.

• The Pavilion is composed of symmetrical east and west facades with centered projecting porticos supported by Doric columns. An veranda enclosed with full-height windows is on the south elevation to balance the north and south wings. At the top of the Pavilion, the four gabled sides are united by a shingled attic surmounted by a balustrade. The exterior walls are finished in a rough course plaster called roughcast or pebbledash (lime mixed with cement, sand, small shells, and pebbles) and is coated limewash, a mixture of lime putty and water used as an architectural finish throughout the world for thousands of years.

The Reception Room

Tulip Tree

Umbrella Magnolia

Vanderbilt Mansion

A masterpiece of American architecture by one of the nation’s preeminent architects, built for one of the first families of wealth and privilege in the Gilded Age. The classical edifice of the Vanderbilt Mansion surrounded by a verdant park represents a perfect blend of formality and rural gentility.

Weeping Beech

Welcome to the Vanderbilt Mansion

White Fir

Pavilion Visitor Center

• Pavilion Visitor Center
• The Pavilion Visitor Center is open every day from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

• Tour Vanderbilt Mansion
• Everything you need to know about access to the Vanderbilt Mansion and how to obtain your tickets. Tour days and times change seasonally, so check here for more information on planning your visit.

• Hudson River Art Trail
• The Hudson River School Art Trail connects you with the places in nature that Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School artists made famous in their 19th-century landscape paintings. Cole founded this nation’s first major art movement, now known as the Hudson River School, and advocated for the preservation of the American landscape as a national treasure.

• Explore Bard Rock
• Bard Rock is a picnic area and one of the only places within the park that visitors can gain such proximity to the Hudson River. Historically, it was a river landing with “a large flat rock, which forms a natural wharf” capable of accommodating large sloops. From here, you can observe some of the natural features that make the Hudson River Valley a world famous destination.

• Visit the Formal Gardens
• The formal gardens at Hyde Park are typical of late Gilded Age garden design. Wealthy Americans traveling abroad were particularly influenced by British and European gardens in the Italian style, characterized by geometric patterning, axial spatial organization, and reliance on proportion and interconnection of parts by sight lines. The Vanderbilts worked with four noted landscape architects and horticulturists to introduce these Italian design principles.

• Vanderbilt Riverfront Trail
• It all began here—on the banks of the Hudson River. For centuries, the river sustained the livelihood of Native Americans, European explorers and landowners, African American slaves, and the scions of American industry. These trails traverse time, taking you on a journey from the first waterfront settlements through the Gilded Age of the early twentieth century.

Estate Tour

A self-guided walking tour of the Vanderbilt estate grounds, including built features, gardens, and scenic spots.