Historic Environments

The Hudson Valley once teemed with the waterfront homes of the rich and powerful, including such famous estates as Vanderbilt mansion and Springwood, the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among those houses that remain Dutchess County include Maple Grove and Locust Grove. Both once estates of wealthy owners just off Albany Post Road (now Route 9), their current preservation strategies provide an interesting study in contrasts. Maple Grove, pictured below, and its surrounding land was acquired by a developer who wished to build retirement condominiums on the property, not dissimilar to the development of Springside, once the home and property of Matthew Vassar.

Maple Grove

While the house itself was protected due to its historic status, the hope was to have it function as some kind of common space or meeting area for the community within the new development in such a way that would add value to the property. However, the house was burned by an arsonist in 1985, and while the outside remains in tolerably good shape and parts of the house have been used for minor events, it remains generally disused and not maintained.

In contrast, Locust Grove, just on the other side of Route 9, was willed by its last resident, Annette Young, to a trust for the preservation of the property and grounds at her death in 1975. Once best known as one of the homes of Samuel Morse, the design of interior grounds date to his time. However, the majority of the estate was acquired by the Youngs in the 1890s and thereafter, and the house and museum draw on the collections of art, antique furniture, and other items that the Youngs collected in their near century of ownership. The main house is currently run as a house museum showing life among the Hudson Valley elite in the 1910s, with other collections also being displayed in the visitors’ center. It also offers over 5 miles of hiking trails open daily as part of its mission to make preserve this land and make it accessible to the public. In contrast to Maple Grove, Locust Grove presents an example of historic houses being upkept and accessible to the public.

The historic viewshed toward the Hudson River at Locust Grove has also been preserved.