Olana Audio Tours
Self-guided tour of 1.5 miles of historic carriage roads
Time: 45:08 (audio); approximately 1 hour with making stopsHelpful Hint! There is free guest WiFi available at the Visitor Center/Museum (network name: OlanaGuest) for
downloading your tour. In addition, there is a map + corresponding brochure available for purchase in the
Museum Store.
Learn about the history and ongoing restoration of Olana’s artist-designed landscape. Imagine walking
through a Frederic Church painting. While you learn a myriad of facts, you will be inspired by Church’s many
historic carriage roads. The tour can be listened to anywhere, but to follow along with the geography, please
start at the historic map sign at the bottom of the parking lot stairway. We suggest wearing good walking
shoes. The route travels on Ridge Road, South Road + New Approach Road.
TOP wishes to thank local actors Leigh Strimbeck and Paul Ricciardi for their excellent dramatic readings. Many thanks to Wave Farm/WGXC for making the audio recording possible and for Henri Scars Struck for donating his original score. This tour was written by TOP’s Landscape Curator, Mark Prezorski. Copyright TOP 2016. This project was funded in part by a grant from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
Photo credit: Frederic J. Church, Plan of Olana (detail), 1886, watercolor on paper, OL.1984.39, Collection of Olana State Historic Site, NYSOPRHP
Isabel's Tour
Performed by Anne UndelandTime: A two-part series of 1 hour long dramatic readings
As part of a larger digital humanities program in development at Olana, the 2018 audio tour links to themes in
the 2018 exhibition, Costume & Custom: Middle Eastern Threads at Olana. This tour is designed to illuminate
the travels that inspired the design of Olana and many works of art by Frederic Church for years to come. This audio tour creates access to the voices and experiences of the Churches while traveling through many regions of the Middle East.
Citations for The Churches’ Middles Eastern Adventure Audio Tour
Thank you Wave Farm/WGXC, NY Parks & Trails, and members of The Olana Partnership for making the audio recording possible and for Henri Scars Struck for donating his original score and lllusha Tsinazde & Company for sharing the music for the Middle Eastern tour. Copyright TOP 2018.
Image Credit for Frederic Church’s Tour: Felix Bonfils [attributed], Frederic Edwin Church and His Son, Frederic Joseph, in Beirut, 1868, carte-de-visite, 4 7/8×3 3/8 in., Collection of NYSOPRHP Olana State Historic Site
Performed by Brian Dewan
Time: 57:39 (audio); approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes with breaksHelpful Hint! There is free guest WiFi available at the Visitor Center/Museum (network name: OlanaGuest) for
downloading your tour. In addition, there is a map + corresponding brochure available for purchase in the
Museum Store.
This tour can be listened to in any location but we recommend listening as you stroll any of the carriage roads
designed by Frederic Church. While you walk you can contemplate the life and words of Church, his family,
and his contemporaries; and these are layered with songs from their era. Artist and musician Brian Dewan
does a dramatic reading of significant letters in Olana’s collection, and Church’s art-making practice becomes
illuminated even further.
Citations for F.E. Church’s Letters and 19th Century Ballads
Thank you Wave Farm/WGXC, NY Parks & Trails, and members of The Olana Partnership for making the audio recording possible.
This project was funded in part by a grant from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Photo credit: Letter from Frederic E. Church to Aaron С. Goodman (detail), 30 January 1848, ink on light blue-gray paper, 9 7/8×713/16 in., OL.1982.1516 No. 193, Collection of Olana State Historic Site, NYSOPRHP
