You Can Get There from Here . . . on Foot

The Hudson River Skywalk--the path linking the homes and studios of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church--opened officially yesterday. In the Parade of Paintings, marchers wearing blue baseball caps and carrying blue flags and banners on which Church paintings were reproduced descended from Olana and, on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, converged with marchers who had come from Cedar Grove wearing green baseball caps and carrying green flags and banners on which Cole paintings were reproduced.

Photo: Olana State Historic Site

  

Having come together on the bridge, the two groups returned to the west side of the river where, in the park beside the Rip Van Winkle toll plaza, the opening ceremonies continued. Rip Van Winkle himself, roused from a nap of indeterminate length, was there to wave to drivers passing over the bridge, greet the marchers, and pose for pictures with event participants.

After many speeches and a musical performance inspired by Hudson Talbot's picture book River of Dreams, the ribbon was finally cut, with Assemblymember Didi Barrett wielding the giant scissors, officially opening the Hudson River Skyway, from which can be viewed "American's first canvas."

Photo: Olana State Historic Site