Translated from dollars to projects that are building a future for The Point, the graph above tells an exciting story.
2018 At the suggestion of Taconic Parks Regional Director Linda Cooper, CVPA sought a Parks & Trails NY (PTNY) Capacity Development Grant to prioritize steps toward saving The Point.
2019 Armed with the PTNY grant, CVPA retained four consultants to set new priorities and outline steps for moving forward.
- Jan Hird Pokorny Associates reviewed the numerous studies and assessments that NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation had conducted in the interim since 1963 when the state took possession of The Point; made a new, complete assessment of conditions at the Hoyt residence and outline a course of action for the coming decade.
- Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects became pro bono consultants for The Point’s Calvert Vaux-designed landscape and recommended that CVPA undertake a Cultural Landscape Report for the site.
- Hone Strategic LLC assessed the capacity of CVPA’s Board of Directors and outlined steps to build that capacity to undertake a series of ever larger capital campaigns to restore, redevelop and redeploy The Point’s Vaux-designed principal residence and 91-acre country estate landscape, as well as its early 20th century barncomplex, comprising altogether more than 20,000 square feet of interior space.
- TR RavellaHamilton initiated documentary research to support the development of a Cultural Landscape Report
2020 With much curtailed by the Covid pandemic, CVPA wrapped up the PTNY grant and hosted a public forum that shared the grant’s findings with more than 100 participants online. A Historic Hudson Valley Landscape Photography Exhibition set in motion pre-pandemic went forward and CVPA segued it to an online gallery to address pandemic lockdown.
2021 Supported by Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation, CVPA produced a Cultural Landscape Report Historic Narrative conducted by Kyle Toth and Emily Cooperman from PS&S Architects & Planners. We stabilized the deteriorating South Portico at the Hoyt residence to protect its hand-hewn stone. We also sought a Hudson River Valley Greenway Trails Grant to undertake a Historic Structure Report (HSR) for the Hoyt Carriageway Bridge. When closed in 2015, the bridge had provided a gateway to the iconic picturesque experience designed by Calvert Vaux for Lydig and Geraldine Livingston Hoyt for more than a century. It had given visitors and hikers access to Mills Norrie State Park and the Hudson River Shoreline and its loss was much lamented by the Staatsburg community.
2022 Greenway grant in hand, CVPA retained civil engineer Peter Melewski, LLC to complete the HSR engineering assessment for the bridge, and worked with Mr. Melewski to conduct additional engineering steps and load rating needed to develop construction plans for rehabbing the structure. We also conducted a national symposium, Designing the Landscape that Made America: Calvert Vaux and His Peers in the Hudson Valley, co-sponsored by Classic American Homes Preservation Trust with support from The Garden Conservancy. The weekend featured five leading historians for the topic and was attended by 100 participants. The symposium weekend also featured a special evening at Edgewater and tours of local historic landscapes.
To give feedback on our progress, please contact CVPA Chair Jon Lawson, [email protected].
To learn more about Campaign for The Point 2023
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