Making of the
Hudson River Art Trail

On the first Sunday in June 2005, coinciding with National Trails Day, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site officially unveiled the first phase of the Hudson River School Art Trail project, which maps the painting sites of 19th-century artist Thomas Cole and his contemporaries including Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey, Sanford Gifford, and Asher B. Durand. Forming the core of the art movement now known as the Hudson River School, these artists hiked, sketched and painted in the region surrounding Thomas Cole's home in Catskill and Frederic Church's home near Hudson. Many of these views are spectacularly preserved and accessible to the public. The Hudson River School Art Trail project maps the locations from which these painted views can be seen, and enables the public to find and compare the painted and actual views today.