Programs and exhibitions at the Montgomery Place Campus focus on people, place, and history. We consider the estate in its Hudson Valley context, with an eye on the region's changing economy and agriculture. We look toward the future, considering conservation and education.
Professor Judy Pfaff’s fall sculpture class, Installation, moves outdoors with the exhibition Inside Out. Seven artists have created site-specific works installed throughout the grounds of Montgomery Place, responding to the landscape and activating the surrounding environs and their features. Virtual exhibit coming soon!
Guardians of the Garden
200 Years of Pioneering Women in Horticulture
Montgomery Place’s 2020 spring lecture series, with its focus on women and horticulture, has been postponed indefinitely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This multidisciplinary series—organized and sponsored by Montgomery Place, the Horticulture Department at Bard College, and the nonprofit organization Hudson River Heritage—spotlights inspiring women and their work in the field of horticulture.
Stay tuned to our website for scheduling updates.
The Montgomery Place Fall Salon Series, Renewable Energies: Balancing Outputs and Historic Landscapes, presented two sessions highlighting how a local community balances the implementation of renewable energies within an historically significant landscape.
Session 1: Solar Energy | November 12, 3–5 p.m.
Session 2: Hydro Energy | December 3, 3–5 p.m.
The gardens at Montgomery Place once featured decorative garden ornaments and furniture, displaying a wide mix of styles, alongside the plants. Examples of statuary, furniture, potted plants, and hanging baskets that have been documented in early photographs of Montgomery Place will be presented in the exhibition. On view through October 2019.
Exhibition produced in partnership with and curated by Barbara Israel and her staff from Barbara Israel Garden Antiques. Funding provided by the A. C. Israel Foundation and Plymouth Hill Foundation.
Gilsonfest was a Bard College–led collaboration including Historic Red Hook, the Dutchess County Historical Society, and the Red Hook Quilters, funded by the Lumina Foundation, that focused on the life of Alexander Gilson (c. 1824–89). Gilson was an African American who labored for 50 years at Montgomery Place, eventually becoming the head gardener.
Fridays and Saturdays, September 7–21
The Fisher Center at Bard presents a second season of free outdoor events on the grounds of Montgomery Place, a National Historic Landmark overlooking the Hudson River: a puppet circus extravaganza, music from the border and beyond, and two under-the-stars film screenings set against the backdrop of the riverbank.
James Mongan and Star Children, “Modern pop for vintage tastes, Catskill style.”
Montgomery Place at Bard College, Mansion House North Porch. Bring a picnic, lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the show. Free admission.
Sundays, June 16 — August 25
10:00 am — 11:15 am
All are invited to practice yoga on beautiful summer mornings at Montgomery Place. Using nature as our inspiration, we go through a flow connected with breath and hold powerful postures. Bring a yoga mat and water and meet at the Visitor Center. The program is free to the Bard community and general public but donations are gladly accepted.
May 11, 18, and 26, 2019
A series of concerts and lectures hosted in partnership with Hudson River Heritage and coproduced and curated by Christopher Brellochs.
Pictured: The Musical Life of Cora Livingston Barton and Her Husband Thomas Barton at Montgomery Place. Recital with Christopher Brellochs, saxophone and Rita Costanzi, harp. Montgomery Place Mansion House Parlor. Photos by Karl Rabe
Outdoor performance with Christopher Brellochs, soprano saxophone; Eric Aweh, alto saxophone; Joe North, tenor saxophone; Wayne Tice, baritone saxophone. Montgomery Place North Porch. May 2019. Part of the Music of the Gilded Age Salon Series.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
A daylong gathering of community members, students, and academics, representing farmers, lawyers, journalists, business and finance, and more, came together to address these questions: Can the Northeast feed itself? If so, should it? At what environmental or other costs/benefits? The 2018 Montgomery Place Salon Series was organized in partnership with Rose Hill Farm and the Hudson Valley Young Farmers Coalition.
August 10 – October 31, 2018
Presented by the Landscape and Arboretum Program at Bard College, this seasonal exhibition focused on some of the tree insects and diseases that are endangering trees across the Northeast. The interpretive exhibit, which was installed in the Greenhouse Tool Room on the Montgomery Place Campus, explored signs and symptoms, early detection, and efforts under way to protect trees and promote tree conservation.
April 14 – May 5, 2018
Our Spring Salon Series, organized in partnership with Hudson River Heritage, took place on four consecutive Saturdays beginning April 14. The series centered on the work of Alexander Jackson Davis, America's leading architect of country houses in the mid–19th century—many of them, including Montgomery Place, located in the Hudson River Valley.
July – October 2017
Historic Garden Tools of Montgomery Place is a virtual exhibition of the garden implements used at Montgomery Place for vegetable gardening, landscaping, orchard care, and floral display from the late 19th to mid-20th century. This online exhibit is based on an exhibition organized by the Bard Landscape and Arboretum Program that was on display in the Greenhouse Tool Room on the Montgomery Place Campus from July to October 2017.
October 29 – November 19, 2017
Over four Sundays in October and November 2017 we examined a changing climate and its impact on the people and places of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Each week we explored a different theme: the Hudson River, farming, forests, and Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.