Did you have the opportunity to visit Yaddo during one of its multiple house tours last Saturday or Sunday? Located in Saratoga Springs, New York, the mission of this famous artists’ community which has hosted Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor, Sylvia Plath, Mario Puzo, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein is to provide artists the peace and guaranteed privacy necessary for creative work.
But, for the first time in eight years, it opened its doors to the public , permitting hundreds and hundreds of people to take a peek at its many treasures.
I’ve been involved with Yaddo over the years, and I was honored to participate as a docent last Sunday morning. My focus was the upstairs hall in the Mansion. It is here that the artists in residence have congregated and have even put on performances for each other.
Among the many valuable possessions located in this area was a glass photograph of whom they believe was Christina Nichols, the mother of founder Katrina Trask, and a sculpture of Marguerite de Valois, the first wife of Henry IV of France.
Didn’t get a chance to visit? Here are some more pictures of the beautiful interior of the mansion.
Travel Gal Kim Swidler 
6 responses to “Pictures Inside Yaddo’s House Tour”
I’m so glad I got an email telling me “no photos allowed” and actually complied. *sigh*
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I’m so sorry S if it looked like I took these pictures during the tour. They were actually taken before any of the tours began.
As you may have seen, for each tour time, there were 15 different groups of individuals visiting Yaddo. This took an enormous amount of coordination.
I’m not a spokesperson for Yaddo, but I believe that there was a real concern that if photography was permitted, it would slow the tours down to a level that would cause a lot of disruption in this coordination.
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Yes I figured it was before, the light is better and there is nobody around. Good photos! I was kidding, there was indeed a concern that photography would slow down the tours. As an (amateur) photographer myself I don’t take photos in private places if I’m asked not to, but honestly there were so many people with cameras just in my group, that was a bit comical.
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Thank you, S, for supporting Yaddo. I hope that you enjoyed the visit.
Kim
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Thanks for the pictures without the crowds. I took a tour and it was hard to take pictures with so many people around. What a gorgeous mansion and I was so happy to have the opportunity to be there.
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I’m glad that you enjoyed it! Thanks for visiting, Sue.
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