Future Directions for Bard 25
the R. Tillotson site
A Future As Rich As Its Past
Even though the careful digging, screening, and cataloguing has finished for now, the Bard 25 site still has much to offer. From educational programming to clues about Bard's architectural history, the R. Tillotson site continues to enrich the Bard and local communities.
Gatehouses at Bard
The campus of Bard College has been
home to several gatehouses.
The R. Tillotson site offers further understanding of gatehouses at Bard, the mid-Hudson Valley, and beyond. Across Annandale Road rises a College Gothic arched structure from the early 20th century, the entrance to Ward Manor. On the northern third of the campus, it was built on the ruins of Tillotson’s aunt, nee Alida Livingston, and her husband, General John Armstrong. Later called DeVeaux Park and then Almont, its gatehouse was where currently starts the formal approach to the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.
Alexander Jackson Davis designed two gatehouses ca. 1840 for Robert Donaldson’s estate Blithewood on the southern third of the campus. One is the hexagonal Italianate structure still standing at the corner of Blithewood Avenue and Annandale Road. The other was demolished ca. 1900, mid-way down the drive to the mansion, but now has an exhibit at the site. The Blithewood gatehouse exhibit can be accessed on-line as well.
Educational Programs for Children
Local elementary students do some hands-on
learning about the area's past
The historical archaeology class at Bard excavated the R. Tillotson site briefly in 2006 and 2007, but may work more in the area henceforth. The first year of academic digging included a visit by several fourth-graders. Bard Archaeology is expanding its program in their town, Rhinebeck.