Bard College Receives $93,000 from the Garden Conservancy for Blithewood Garden Rehabilitation

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY — Bard College has been gifted $93,000 from the Garden Conservancy to go toward construction drawings that will aid the rehabilitation of Blithewood Garden. The construction documents, which will be created by award-winning preservation architecture firms Jan Hird Pokorny Associates (JHPA) and Integrated Conservation Resources, Inc. (ICR), will be used as the blueprints for the restoration of Blithewood’s landscape.

"We are delighted that the Garden Conservancy is partnering with Bard to preserve the rich history of Blithewood Garden for future generations," said Debra Pemstein, vice president of development and alumni/ae affairs at Bard College. "This generous contribution will help with ongoing restoration efforts to renew Blithewood's iconic landscape for the Bard community and beyond."

Blithewood Garden is considered a nationally significant Beaux Arts, Italianate garden with significant connections to the evolution of American landscape design and is one of the few intact Hudson River estate gardens that remain from the Gilded Age. Situated on a steeply sloping bluff approximately 130 feet above the Hudson River, Blithewood is a 45-acre section of Bard’s campus that was once part of a historic estate comprising a manor house, outbuildings, drives, gardens, lawns, and meadows. Bard College has partnered with the Garden Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and share America’s gardens, on the restoration of Blithewood Garden. 

Blithewood Garden is open to the public from dawn to dusk every day. For more information, visit https://www.bard.edu/arboretum/gardens/blithewood/ 
  About the Garden Conservancy
The Garden Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to preserve, share, and celebrate America's gardens and diverse gardening traditions for the education and inspiration of the public. We work with partners and communities across America to preserve outstanding gardens, and since 1989 we have helped preserve over 100 gardens. Our signature program, Open Days, welcomes visitors to private gardens annually, and since 1995, more than 4,000 private gardens have participated, with 1.4 million visitors in states across the country. Through all of our programs and outreach, we champion the vital role that gardens play in our history, our culture, and our quality of life. For more information, please visit gardenconservancy.org.
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 163-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
 
 

This event was last updated on 05-19-2023

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