Gifford Pinchot Grey Towers July Events Focus On Arts Programs

A musical performance, plein air painting and a lecture about one of America’s most iconic landscape painters who had strong ties to the Tri-State area are being offered in July at Gifford Pinchot’s Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, Pike County, as part of the U.S. Forest Service Conservation and the Arts program.

The upcoming programs include--

-- July 9, 5:30 p.m: One of the leading mandolin duos, Caterina Lichtenberg and Mike Marshall, will play Bach, Vivaldi, Leone, Calace, and their own works in this unique musical performance, “From Bach to Brazil.”

Tickets are $20 at the door and in advance at Books and Prints at Pear Alley, 220 Broad Street or call 570- 296 4777. Children under 15 admitted free. For more information call (570) 409-1269 or send email to kindredspir@yahoo.com. The program is co-sponsored by Kindred Spirits Arts Programs and the U.S. Forest Service.

-- July 14, 10 a.m: Free, plein air painting program where you can either join the artists or observe them at work on the grounds and in the gardens. Bring a picnic lunch and your own materials for this non-instructional public program. Contact Joan Polishook at 570-775-6896 or visit the Joan Polishook Art website.

-- July 16, 5:30 p.m: Jervis McEntee was one of the most iconic painters of the Hudson River School and, as a friend of James Pinchot, visited the Milford area. Guest speaker Kerry Dean Carso, associate professor of art history at SUNY New Paltz, will present an illustrated lecture about McEntee (1828-1891) in relation to his friend and patron James Pinchot.

McEntee was known for his introspective and melancholy paintings of American scenery and was part of a circle of artists (including Sanford Gifford, after whom James named his son Gifford Pinchot) who rented space in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York.

McEntee had a strong connection to the Milford area. He visited the Pinchot family at Grey Towers on two occasions and was himself named after John B. Jervis, the engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, as was the city of Port Jervis.

This second in a series of FREE lectures illustrating conservation and the arts will be followed by a reception with light refreshments. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and Grey Towers Heritage Association, with funding from the Orange & Rockland Community Foundation.

In addition to these special programs, Grey Towers is open every day offering guided tours of the mansion and grounds every hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. On weekends the last tour of the day (4 p.m.) brings visitors to the upper floors of the mansion, not usually a part of the regular tours.

For more information visit the Grey Towers National Historic Site or the Grey Towers Heritage Association websites or call 570-296-9630.

(Photo: Painting by Jervis McEntee, View on the Hudson Near the Rondout, n.d., Oil on canvas, 25 x 50 in., Collection of Richard Sharp.)