Bard College Awarded Two Historic Preservation Grants for Projects at Montgomery Place Campus
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College junior Miranda Fey Whitus ’18 has been awarded a 2017 Barnabas McHenry Hudson Valley Award from the Open Space Institute (OSI) for her work with Bard College faculty and staff to create a genealogy and comprehensive history of the families connected to the historic Montgomery Place estate. A history major, Whitus will research the heritage and history of the Hudson Valley by analyzing the design aesthetic, artistic practices, and material possessions of families who lived in the estate during the 19th and 20th centuries.The Barnabas McHenry Hudson Valley Awards honor exceptional young leaders who are working to protect and enhance the Hudson River Valley. Established in 2007 to honor the extensive contributions of OSI trustee Barnabas McHenry, a renowned environmental philanthropist and conservationist, the awards go to graduate and undergraduate students pursuing research, leadership, and community involvement in the Hudson Valley. The awards, of up to $6,000 each, support graduate or undergraduate students working in partnership with regional nonprofits in the fields of environmental conservation, historic preservation, the arts and tourism.
Separately, the Peggy and Roger Gerry Charitable Trust awarded Bard a $31,750 matching grant to support the creation of historically sensitive architectural plans that will explore restoring and adapting the upper floors of the Montgomery Place Mansion House.
Bard College: The Montgomery Place Campus, a 380-acre estate adjacent to the main Bard College campus and overlooking the Hudson River, is a designated National Historic Landmark set amid rolling lawns, woodlands, and gardens, against the spectacular backdrop of the Catskill Mountains. Renowned architects, landscape designers, and horticulturists worked to create an elegant and inspiring country estate consisting of a mansion, farm, orchards, farmhouse, and other smaller buildings. The Montgomery Place estate was owned by members of the Livingston family from 1802 until the 1980s. In 1986, Livingston heir John Dennis Delafield transferred the estate to Historic Hudson Valley in whose hands it remained until 2016, when Bard acquired the property. For more information, please visit bard.edu/montgomeryplace.
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