Mileage between sites is bracketed, in bold and given in miles and tenths of miles, e.g. (2.6) for two and six tenths, or (0.1) for one tenth of a mile. The exception to this rule is the mileage for the full extent of SIDE TRIPS, which is neither bracketed nor bolded.

Municipalities are listed by letters in the guide and on markers; sites and historic areas are identified by numbers.

Sites visible from the Routes are in caps within the text.

Side Trips and other Off Route attractions are suggested at points marked by an asterisk (*) and italics. Directions to these sites are at the end of each tour. Because basic tours take several hours each, we suggest return visits to explore these additional sites. Dutchess County Farm Produce Maps and winery brochures are available at Tourism Information Centers county-wide.

Telephone numbers in Dutchess County are primarily in the 845 area code, with the exception of Millerton and Pine Plains, where some numbers are in the 518 area. Check the telephone directory for assistance.

Where the map indicates "Start" set your trip meter at "0" and begin. (Note that individual trip meters may vary slightly from mileage indicated.)

<---------------- TOUR 4 BEGINS HERE ---------------->

(52 Miles, 2 Hours) START.
This tour begins at Route 44 East exit off of Taconic Parkway. Drive 1.8 miles to Rt. 44A.

1 CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OF DUTCHESS COUNTY (L). Provides educational programs for youth, adults, families and communities while enhancing the economic, social, agricultural and natural resources of Dutchess County. Call 845/677-3488 for (?)

Turn left on Route 44A. The Sharon Branch of the Dutchess Turnpike, chartered 1804, is Rt. 44A. Drive 2.6 mile to Harts Village Rd.

2 INSTITUTE OF ECOSYSTEM STUDIES (L) est. 1971 (1924 acres) line the road. Free visitor permits are at Gifford House Visitor and Education Center (L). Nature trails, gardens, exhibits, classes. Call 845/677-5359 for (?).

3 ORVIS SANDANONA SHOOTING PRESERVE (L) or (R) is the oldest permitted shooting club in the US, now used as a venue for the Orvis Shooting and Flyfishing Schools. Call 845/677-9701 for (?).

Turn right on Harts Village Rd. Drive 0.6 mile to Franklin Ave.

4 HARTS VILLAGE, named for the Hart family, was the town’s economic center until the mid-19th c. Phillip Hart’s carefully restored Georgian frame home (R) (NR) (PVT) is set back. The village was the hub of industry powered by water from numerous falls in the deep gorge along Mill Brook. Hart’s grist mill, 1755, enlarged by Phillip Hart in 1790, was the first, followed by fulling, dye cutting, saw, cotton and flour mills.

Turn left on Franklin Ave. Drive 0.8 mile to Rt. 44 East.

5 MILLBROOK VILLAGE flourished as a result of local businessmen such as George H. Brown, owner of the United States Condensing Co. (est. 1864), who brought in the Newburgh, Dutchess & Columbia RR in 1869. Park in lots or along streets. Tree-lined Franklin Ave. invites strollers to galleries, antique shops, bookstores, restaurants and attractions such as the TRIBUTE GARDENS (R), a gift of Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne, dedicated to WWI and II veterans. The THORNE BUILDING (L), now a branch of Dutchess Community College and intended as a school and cultural center, became the reason for Millbrook’s incorporation as a village in 1895, as the donors could only give to a legal municipality. GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, opposite (R) was est. 1871.

Turn right on Rt. 44 East. Drive 4.7 miles to CR 57.

Route passes through old hamlets. MABBETTSVILLE was originally called “Filkintown” for land owner Henry Filkin, one of the Nine Partners Patentees (1697). Note the TOWN PARK (R). ALLYN’S RESTAURANT AND CAFE (R), where fine food and tourist information are available, was originally a Methodist church. Call 845/677-5888 for (?)

Scenic views (L) frame LITHGOW, an 18th c. farm hamlet est. 1760 as the country seat of David Johnstone. Its name was inspired by a family home in Linlithgow, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the misnamed “SHUNPIKE” from Hibernia. Shunpikes traditionally were developed to avoid toll roads but this 18th c. short cut predates the Dutchess Turnpike.

Turn left onto CR 57. Drive 3.3 miles to Bangall Rd. Turn right and drive 0.5 mile to Wing’s Castle.

7 WING’S CASTLE. A unique architectural site, this Hudson River stone castle was built by using salvaged materials from antique buildings. Tours available. Call 845/677-9085 for (?).

Return to CR 57. Turn right on CR 57. Drive 0.5 mile to Wing Rd. Turn right on Wing Rd. to Millbrook Vineyards and Winery.

8 MILLBROOK VINEYARDS AND WINERY. A critically acclaimed 130-acre estate winery. Open year-round, complimentary and informative tours offer an insider’s view of the entire winemaking process. Call 845/677-8383 or 800/662-WINE for (?).

www.MillbrookWine.com. Take a break from driving with a guided tour and wine tasting. World-class wines paired with amazing views are a treat for all the senses.

Return to CR 57. Turn left on CR 57 and drive 3.8 miles to Rt. 44 East. Turn left on Rt. 44 East. Drive 4.8 miles to Rt. 22.

9 DE LA VERGNE HILL. A mile-long “S” curve on the turnpike was called the “Devil’s Elbow”, but the scenery is spectacular. At the turn there is a view of 3 states: New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. SILO-RIDGE COUNTRY CLUB (R), an 18-hole public golf course and restaurant, was developed in 1992 from cornfields and pastures around Squabble Hole, one of two 19th c. ore pits filled with water. (Access from Rt. 22) Call 845/373-9200 (?).

10 AMENIA. This unincorporated village, formerly Paine’s Corners, grew at the crossing of the Turnpike, the Great Rd. to NY and the NY & Harlem RR. Park and walk to shops/restaurants at the intersection of Rts. 44 and 22. The 19th c. AMENIA ISLAND CEMETERY (L) on Rt. 343 sits within a lively business hub housed in Victorian commercial buildings. Mechanic St. (R) off of Rt. 343 leads to the Town Hall, the site of the former Harlem RR station and the HARLEM VALLEY RAIL TRAIL (R), that features scenic paved walking, rollerblading, biking and cross-country skiing trails, links towns, villages and state parks from Amenia to Copake Falls in Columbia County. The POST OFFICE (L) building dates to 1865. The Greek Revival former BAPTIST CHURCH on Rt. 22 South, ca. 1851, is now a gift shop (R).

Turn left on Rt. 22 North. Drive 0.8 mile to Old North Rd.

The business center is marked by the stone mansard-roofed M & T BANK complete with 1906 fountain/horse trough memorializing Dr. Joseph R. Guernsey. Past the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (R) ca. 1855 congregation est. 1748, is AMENIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (R), built on the site of Amenia Seminary, a private Methodist co-ed secondary school and college, est.1835. Victorian era houses and old trees line the road to new businesses at the village edge.

Turn right and drive 0.2 mile straight onto Mygatt Rd. Drive 0.7 mile to stop sign at Rt. 343. (Ignore directional sign at this intersection)

A cast iron “curve warning” sign from a long past highway dept. still serves travelers to negotiate an even older road system that passes stone walls sheltering AMENIA BURYING GROUND (R), ca. 1750, and the shell of a tiny, red one-room INDIAN ROCK SCHOOLHOUSE (L).

Turn left on Rt. 343 and drive 1.7 miles to CR2. Turn right on Leedsville Rd., CR2.

11 TROUTBECK COUNTRY INN (R). Formerly a gathering place for the literati and liberals of the Twenties, this gentle, upscale 600-acre English estate hosts weddings, conferences and country inn visitors.

www.Troutbeck.com, 845/373-9681. A romantic European country house on the NY/CT border. Site of the 1916 Amenia conference that unified the NAACP. Glorious grounds and gardens, babbling brook, 42 guestrooms, tennis courts.

Drive 5.1 miles on CR 2 through Amenia-Union, to CR 3.

Note the 2 story Dutchess Colonial 1760 HENDRICK WINEGAR HOUSE (R). Next on left is the ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH (L), a painted brick Gothic Revival that features Tiffany windows. Past the church is the AMENIA UNION HISTORIC DISTRICT that encircles HITCHCOCK CORNERS, a 19th c. crossroads straddling the Connecticut border.

Go straight on CR 3. Drive 1.0 mile to CR 81. Go straight on CR 81. Drive 1.0 mile to Firehouse Rd. Turn left on Firehouse Rd. Drive 0.3 mile to CR 81.

WASSAIC HAMLET at the northern edge of Harlem Valley was a major industrial hamlet and a center of the dairy industry, where, in 1853 Gail Borden opened the nation’s first plant for condensing, pasteurizing and bottling milk. MAXON MILLS (R) is built around a 19th c. hotel near the RR line beyond. The red brick BORDEN COMPLEX, now PAWLING CORP. (R), is near WORKER ROW HOUSING (R). South of the hamlet was a Revolutionary War steel works along the Wassaic Creek near the turn.

Turn right on CR 81. Drive 0.8 mile. Turn right at (I) of CR 81 and CR 3, continuing on CR 81. Drive 0.3 mile to Rts. 22/343 South. Turn left to Rts. 22/343 South. Drive 2.9 miles to Rt. 343.

12 WASSAIC STATE FOREST MULTIPLE USE AREA (L) parallels the route offering 488 acres for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping. Former WASSAIC DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER (L), est. during the Depression Era as a state training center for the mentally disabled, housed up to 3500. *(Off route) The World Peace Center, site of a folk/peace festival, is on CR 4, off CR 105 behind the Developmental Center. This area, known locally as “Sinpatch”, references behavior of 19th c. residents.

Bear right on Rt. 343 to Millbrook. Drive 9.8 miles to Tyrell Rd. Dover Turnpike, Rt. 343, leading over the Fishkill range, was a branch of the Dutchess Turnpike, a toll road.

13 DUTCHESS DAY SCHOOL (R). founded in the 1950s by a group of parents interested in offering their children the advantages of a small-school environment in the Millbrook area.

14 NINE PARTNERS SCHOOL & MEETING HOUSE (R) (NR) (Marker), est. 1780, (cemetery along Church St.) was the site of Orthodox and Hicksite Quaker “Separation” (1828). This area, called Mechanic, was settled ca. 1750 by Quakers who organized the Meeting. East of the Meeting House was Nine Partners School, the first Quaker co-ed boarding school in America, est. 1796, an ancestor of Oakwood School in Poughkeepsie. The MILLBROOK GOLF AND TENNIS CLUB (PVT) is site of WILLETS ACADEMY (R), where distinguished Quaker educators, Jacob and Deborah Willets, taught.

15 FLAGLER MONUMENT, the gift of estate owner Harry Harkness Flagler. HALCYON HALL (R), a late 19th c. resort, became the main building of Bennett School, est. 1907 as a women’s junior college and closed in the 1970s.

16 THORNDALE (R) (PVT) ca. 1848, noted for its gardens, is owned by descendants of Isaac Thorne, a Quaker who settled here ca. 1725.

Turn left on Tyrell Rd. Drive 0.4 mile to stop sign. Bear slight left and quick right, continuing on Tyrell Rd. Drive 0.8 mile to entrance of Innisfree Garden.

17 INNISFREE GARDEN. A unique contribution to garden art featuring design influenced by a Chinese style dating back 1,000 years. There is a 40-acre lake surrounded by cliffs, low hills, waterfalls and streams. Call 845/677-8000 for (?).

Turn around and drive 1.2 miles back to Rt. 44. Turn left on Rt. 44 and drive 1.6 miles to entrance to Taconic Parkway.

<---------------- TOUR 4 ENDS HERE ---------------->