Two weeks ago, a group of our hardworking Rosenbach docents embarked on the annual docent trip. For the first time, this was an overnight adventure, with the Hudson River Valley as their destination. Rosenbach docent Susan Sklaroff has kindly given me permission to repost her blog entry about the excursion. Photographs are thanks to docents Jesse Ruhl and Barbara Zimmerman.
“I think one secret of a successful overnight trip is variety, and although three of our stops were museums, they were as different from each other as three museums could be.
The next day we started off with the West Point Museum. In an imposing building on the edge of the campus, it was in the traditional mold. Visitors can go through the galleries on their own, but we were lucky enough to have the Director give us a personal tour. He was, of course, extremely knowledgeable — but he was also sensitive to our group’s interests. He knew that we preferred to learn about the history of the Military Academy as portrayed in the paintings on display rather than listen to a discussion about, say, the history of military helmets. We got to linger over some smashing examples of the Hudson Valley School as well as a full complement of portraits by early American masters.
And also thanks to Dave’s recommendation, we had a superb dinner at the Garden Market, which opened especially for us on a Wednesday night. The only party in the place, we all sat around one table as dish after dish of locally-grown food (except for the salmon) was brought out and devoured. With plenty of good conversation and homemade apple pie for dessert, who could ask for more?”