Park and Lake

Park and Lake. . Frederic Church transformed a treeless hillside into the wooded park you see across the lake. There, on 31 acres, he planted hundreds of trees and shrubs, singly and in clumps, in a landscape design conceived in the Picturesque Style (a 19th-century term meaning informal and natural-appearing). He called these plantings his "living landscape"or his "painting in nature.” Church laid out his roads to provide a series of changing views and to tantalize visitors with remote and fleeting glimpses of the house as it was approached., The 10-acre lake was created by removing the muck and clay from swampy ground that formed a natural basin to the west of Cosy Cottage. Church's farmhands worked at this chore from 1860 to 1878, removing 40,000 cubic yards by hand. When viewed from the top of the hill or from the house, the lake mirrors Inbocht Bay, the lakelike expanse in the Hudson River about six miles south of this property, In addition to its aesthetic importance, the spring-fed lake provided for recreational and utilitarian needs. A steam-operated engine, located in the nearby pump house, supplied water through underground pipes to the houses, vegetable gardens, and the barns. Canoeing, picnicking, and strolling its shores made the lake a source of pleasure for the Churches and their friends.