For the first and only time this year, Yaddo swings open its gates
Plus: how to snag your chance to win an overnight in the famously private artist retreat
The tranquil 400-acre historic property tucked away at the end of Union Ave is set to liven up a bit this weekend. The famously private artist retreat Yaddo will be hosting an open house of both its grounds and — here’s where it gets interesting — the inside of its dreamy Victorian mansion on Friday and Saturday.
The internationally famous artist retreat has a storied past that spans over 100 years and has even been designated a National Historic Landmark. If those walls could only talk — the residence has been the temporary home of cultural behemoths such as Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, David Foster Wallace, John Cheever, Leonard Bernstein, Milton Avery and Hannah Ardent, to name a handful.
While the stunning gardens of the retreat have visitors hours for the public, the inside of the mansion is very rarely open to the outside world. In fact, this weekend’s event marks the one and only time this year that guided tours of the inside of the building will take place. So if you’ve been wanting to walk through the mythic mansion’s rooms and hallways (which cover 29,000 square feet), this is a special treat not to be missed.
There are a series of tours on both Friday and Saturday that you can sign up for. The VIP tour ($250) is Friday at 5 p.m. and includes a cocktail reception and special guided tour by Yaddo President Elaina Richardson.
On Saturday, the time slots for the tours are 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $75 for the morning tour and $85 for the afternoon tours. Space is limited for all time slots and the VIP tour/reception. If it’s sounds exclusive, it’s because it is — tickets won’t even be sold on the day of the event, so you’ll want to jump on them ASAP.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit yaddo.org.
And if you want to stay overnight in the mysterious mansion?
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