Olana is the hilltop estate of Frederic Edwin Church, the most celebrated painter of the Hudson River School, and it sits on a dramatic promontory above the Hudson in the city of Hudson — clearly visible from the Catskill side of the river. Church designed the Persian-influenced house himself, and the landscape around it is as deliberately composed as any of his paintings.
The views from the grounds are extraordinary. Church positioned every path and clearing to frame the Hudson, the Catskills, and the distant Berkshires, so that walking the grounds is essentially walking through one of his canvases. The house interior holds the largest single collection of Church's work anywhere, along with his studio, his collections of Middle Eastern art, and rooms that look much as they did when he died in 1900.
Technically Olana is in the city of Hudson, not Catskill — it's about three miles east of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge — but it is so closely linked to the Catskill area's Hudson River School heritage that most visitors combine the two. The grounds are open year-round; house tours run seasonally and should be booked in advance.
Address: 5720 NY-9G, Hudson, NY
Hours: Grounds open daily; house tours April–November
Admission: Grounds free; house tours $12 adults