A private Curator's Tour of the main house at Olana for 4 people, including a library of lovely, high-quality books on Frederic Church and Olana. Books are Frederick Church's Olana: Architecture and Landscape as Art, by James Anthony Ryan; Frederic Church by John K. Howat; Frederic Edwin Church: In Search of the Promised Land by Gerald Carr; and Treasures from Olana: Landscapes by Frederic Edwin Church, by Kevin J. Avery.
     Olana, the beautiful, historic birthplace of the first school of American Art, was the home of Frederic Edwin Church, one of America's most important artists, a student of Thomas Cole and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting.  Olana's Persian-style house and 250 acres of grounds are a masterpiece as grand as any of his paintings. Today Olana is a New York State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the most popular tourist destinations int he Hudson Valley and upstate New York.