vanderbilt mansion | hyde park ny

Last Wednesday, I turned the “big 3-0” and I’m going to drop an honesty bomb on you, because I love doing that so, I wasn’t into it. At all. Despite my crap attitude, it turned out to be one of the best birthdays ever. Look at life, surprising me.

The boif (pronounced boy-fff) and I went up to Hyde Park (what people from NYC call ‘upstate’) for the duration of the week and it was outstanding. I highly recommend it. Minus me having a huge near-meltdown on my actual birthday whilst trying to get my act together to catch a train (spoiler alert: we missed that train), the rest of the day was great; including that train ride. If you haven’t taken the Metro-North up the Hudson, I suggest you do so.

We wanted to see a few things, but not completely exhaust ourselves so Thursday morning after breakfast we headed across the street to the Vanderbilt Mansion at Hyde Park for a quick tour. The tour was only an hour, which was perfect and the Park ranger was super knowledgeable.

From the outside I was like “meh, I’ve seen better in my parent’s neighborhood” but inside it is breathtaking. Frederick Vanderbilt’s niece donated it to the Park’s service with ALL of the original furnishings. I was taking pictures like crazy and the older couple on the tour with us thought I was some sort of crazy person but one does not merely pass by a velvet upholstered sofa with tufting and tassels without documenting it thoroughly.

vanderbilt mansion foyer

vanderbilt mansion hyde park sitting roomvanderbilt mansion hyde park ceiling detail

vanderbilt mansion hyde park dining room

vanderbilt mansion hyde park dining room

vanderbilt mansion hyde park staircase
Are you obsessed? I was so into that green velvet fabric that I wanted to take it back with me, so incredibly rich and lovely. Or the red velvet used in the dining room on the curtains and the chairs. You know, I used to hate that, matching curtains and furniture but now I think I’ll need to do it. Because, Vanderbilt’s guys. The ceilings? I used to think the ceilings in our apartment were so pretty and now they’re the red headed stepchild of ceilings.

Also to note, I want this place to be more about original content and photography so you’ll be seeing more of that, okay? I think it will make things much more interesting for all of us.

Part 2 of our visit to the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park NY is coming up later this week!