"For the benefit of the community"
Mary Deane Beattie
High on a bluff above the Hudson River, Beattie-Powers Place has been a singular presence in the Village of Catskill, NY for nearly two centuries. In 1990, the house and six-acre park were bequeathed to the village by Mary Dean Beattie for the "benefit of the community." Since 2005, the all-volunteer organization Friends of Beattie-Powers Place has dedicated itself to opening up to the public while preserving and protecting this historic site for future generations.
Beattie-Powers Place was the home of James Powers. Born in Columbia County, NY in 1785, Powers was a prosperous lawyer, land developer, and gentleman farmer, who also served as a New York state senator. By 1839, on a tract of land in Catskill, offering panoramic views across the Hudson River, Powers had built the house from plans derived from the pattern books of Minard Lafever, regarded as one of the finest American architects of his day. Today, it is a rare surviving example of its kind in the Hudson Valley.
An extraordinary circa 1830s
Greek Revival house
Concerts and lectures
in a unique setting
Spring through fall, the house's intimate parlors host a range of live events open to the public. Fans of chamber music, jazz and bluegrass will find first-rate concerts performed by renowned artists and brilliant student musicians. Ideas are on the calendar, too, with talks by experts on everything from landscape design and preservation law to baseball history. We are working to keep providing our programming safely to the public, via online and distanced events, so please stay tuned! You can access recordings of our recent outdoor concerts on our YouTube channel here.
The Friends of Beattie-Powers transformed what had become an overgrown park into an inviting oasis. Stroll, picnic, enjoy the well-tended gardens and winter sledding. Choose a bench and take in nature's changing moods, the Hudson River, and Rip Van Winkle Bridge. Gazing eastward directly across the river, there's a magnificent view of Olana, home of Hudson River School painter, Frederic Church. Open dawn to dusk, the park is open to all, year-round.
