Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden

12/17/2022

A SPECIAL HOLIDAY
THANK YOU TO NANCY HINKEL, MUSEUM DIRECTOR
& ISABEL WARREN-LYNCH, FACILITIES MANAGER
FROM CDA & THE MVHM&G MUSEUM COMMITTEE

12/16/2022

MOUNT VERNON HOTEL MUSEUM
~~~Wishes you the joys of the holiday season. Original watercolor of our 1799 building with an artist’s imagination of a snowy Holiday of olden days 🎄MVHM is owned and operated by the Colonial Dames of America.

12/14/2022

Four Christmas Traditions born in New York | New-York Historical Society

NEW YORK HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

With more than four centuries of history, it’s no wonder that so many beloved Christmastime traditions originated in New York

12/12/2022

OUR GARDEN IS ASLEEP
~~~It is groomed for winter, but soon the green tips of our tulips 🌷 and other bulbs will appear…all followed by scillas and flowering shrubs. Come see us in the spring, give us a call…by appointment only 🌷

12/10/2022

A FINE BIRD FOR CHRISTMAS
~~~Just out of the crate. Lots of activity in this painting! There is even a tall case clock like the one newly acquired at our MVHM.

12/09/2022

12/05/2022

CHRISTMAS AT MOUNT VERNON HOTEL MUSEUM 🎄

11/22/2022

BOUNTY 🦃 OF THE TABLE
🦃 HAPPY THANKSGIVING 🦃

11/12/2022

~2024 Milestones~
225 birthday MVHM BLDG
100 yrs since CDA purchase
85 yrs a museum

11/09/2022

STRIKING AUTUMN WALL COLOR IN THE GARDEN
~~~At the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden 🍂

11/04/2022

MOUNT VERNON HOTEL MUSEUM (MVHMG)
~~~Has a great team! CDA PG Rebecca Madsen, Museum Committee Chair Brantley Knowles , Museum Director Nancy Hinkel, and Facilities Manager Isabel Warren-Lynch get together to celebrate the Museum’s plans and progress. They review garden plans and review new photos of exciting plantings. Garden Liaison Lili Neuhauser planted a specimen pink “PG” ( paniculata grandiflora) topiary hydrangea. Photos were shared and admired! Captions under photos.

09/23/2022

WONDERFUL FALL🍂 OFFERINGS

09/23/2022

COLONIAL DAMES IN THE GARDEN
~~~Parent Chapter members Shelby Carr (L) and Angela Masand enjoy an autumn 🍂 evening in the MVHM garden. Angela serves on the Board of Managers of the CDA which has owned and operated the property since 1939.

09/22/2022

Timeline photos

Sunday on : Roger Lowenstein discusses his book "Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War." Penguin Press

Book Breaks is free for K–12 teachers, K–12 students, and college students. Join us for a live chat with historians every Sunday at 2 pm ET.

Learn more: gilderlehrman.org/bookbreaks

09/22/2022

Threads of Power: Lace from the Textilmuseum St. Gallen

Threads of Power: Lace from the Textilmuseum St. Gallen

Trace the development of European lace from its sixteenth-century origins to the present day. See more than 150 examples of lace from the renowned collection of Switzerland’s Textilmuseum St. Gallen,

09/20/2022

MUSEUM DIRECTOR RECEIVES HONOR
~~~Laura Tonkin Allen, Chairman of the MVHM Council of Proprietors, has bestowed a council pin upon Nancy Hinkel for her hard work, innovations and enthusiasm. The Council engenders interest in the museum and garden through their CDA chapter reps. It was presented to Nancy by Brantley Knowles (seen at left with Nancy at right) , MVHM Museum Committee Chair. The pin is a replica of the original Hotel sign with foliage added to symbolize the garden.

09/14/2022

NEW GARDEN TOOLS FOR THE MVHM GARDEN 🪴
~~~As Isabel Warren-Lynch says, “Getting it done!”

09/06/2022

Laurie Aldinger of the SC Chapter has been appointed to the MVH&G Committee
She is also chair of the Museum Fundraiser.

09/05/2022

08/29/2022

Microclimates: A Greener Future for Collection Care

Microclimates: A Greener Future for Collection Care

There are many options available for museums to address climate action and become more sustainable, but recent work at two institutions has highlighted the value in one particular method: creating …

08/26/2022

Save the Date
MVHM Virtual Garden ~Benefit~
Sat Jan 14, 2023 at 4 est
Garden Party Chic Attire

08/23/2022

NOW OPEN BY APPOINTMENT
~~~The MVHM & G Museum Director gives an excellent, engaging tour to a rising fifth grader and her family. The garden is an oasis in the city.

08/14/2022

MVHM MUSEUM CHAIR VISITS SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY (EDINBURGH)
~~~Brantley Knowles is pictured with one of the professional curatorial staff, Chief Regustrar-Jacquie Austin, along with Alexander Nasmythe’s iconic painting of Robert Burns, Scotland’s favorite national poet. Members of the Nasmythe family immigrated to Loudoun CO Virginia in the 18thc.

06/04/2022

THE MOUNT VERNON HOTEL OPENED IN 1826
~~~Founder and proprietor, Joseph Coleman Hart, realized the need for a day hotel for the upper classes. This was in “modern” New York. The Erie Canal had just opened the year before, in 1825, with the canal traversing the state. The canal brought much new commerce and business to New York in the “golden age of canal building”. Pictured is a restored packet boat on the Erie Canal.

06/02/2022

CDA’S MOUNT VERNON HOTEL MUSEUM
& GARDEN WELCOMES
NEW DIRECTOR: Nancy Hinkel

06/01/2022

HAPPY JUNE
~~~Our new sign is in place with a newly painted stand. Bloom throughout the garden continues to enthrall!! 🪴

05/31/2022

TEXTURE & COLOR
.~~~Reveals itself in the garden! The varied coloration of the heuchera leaves give amazing contrast to the greenery.

05/27/2022

THE TWENTY-FIVE STAR FLAG 🇺🇸 OF 1836
~~~Our Memorial Day tribute is the American flag that would have flown the year of the opening of the MOUNT VERNON HOTEL. The 25th star was for Arkansas. We thank all who have given the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom 🇺🇸

05/27/2022

GARDEN LIAISON LILI NEUHAUSER
~~~Works with Isabel Warren-Lynch to
Fill our lovely Versailles planters. L-the array of plants brought to MVHM by Lili in her stylish blue garden tubs. The plants are then planted and they add, as Isabel says, “A real pop of color”, to the Museum grounds! 🪴 The garden is a haven in the middle of the city on E 61st ST between 1st and York.

05/23/2022

Happy 🎂 BIRTHDAY
COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA
132 years old today.
(CDA Purchased our 1799 museum building in 1924!)

05/22/2022

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE MVHM GARDEN WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY
~~~Alice Recknagel Ireys (1911-2000) one of the most prominent landscape architects of the second half of the 20th century? Her garden plans are extant, and we hope to restore the garden 🪴 more to come! Alice Ireys is pictured below.

05/21/2022

CDA PRESIDENT GENERAL REBECCA MADSEN (L)
~~~With Rachel Tribble (R) , President of CDA Chapter ###III-GA Piedmont, who is the newly appointed Recording Secretary of the MVHM Museum Committee. The Colonial Dames of America own and operate the MVHM and Garden.

05/20/2022

LAURA TONKIN ALLEN
Appointed chairman of MOUNT VERNON HOTEL MUSEUM’S
COUNCIL OF PROPRIETORS

05/18/2022

BEAUTIFUL BOXWOOD TOPIARIES
~~~In the Versailles planter boxes at the entrance of Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.
The 1799 structure was purchased by the Colonial Dames of America December 2, 1924, and has been operated as a museum since 1939.

07/23/2021

Join us for our Virtual Hearst Fellows Symposium on July 30 at 3pm ET, and hear from our two William Randolph Hearst Fellows, Jolie Vanier and Sofia Altherr, about their research on the emerging American industries in the 19th century. Jolie is pursuing an MS in Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon. In her presentation, she will use furniture as a lens through which to explore the German immigrant experience in relation to the changes in the furniture making industry. Sofia attends Trinity College in Hartford and is majoring in Art History. She will discuss how textile production changed as a result of technological advancements, as well as how fabric consumption changed in accordance with evolving fashions in the 19th century. Register for the Symposium Zoom link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-hearst-fellows-symposium-tickets-163308138037

06/22/2021

Picturing America: Immigrant Perspectives on Nature in the 19th Century & Today, the Museum’s new virtual exhibition, is now live on the website. It highlights thirteen artists and explores how nature functions as a universal motif to explore cultural identity and belonging across countries and eras.

Thomas Cole in “View on the Catskill-Early Autumn” mourned the devastation of the verdant valley due to the construction of the railroad by depicting the landscape untouched by human activity.

06/03/2021

Add the Museum to your child’s summer plans! Join us for our Virtual History Week, June 28 - July 2. Travel back to the 19th century and explore the art, history, science, and cooking of the time through morning Zoom sessions and off-screen projects.

For details and registration, visit https://mvhm.org

05/17/2021

Our azaleas have been enjoying the sunny spring weather!

[Photo description: Photo 1 is a close up of a cluster of light purple azalea blossoms dotted with water droplets. The museum garden is in the background. Photo 2 shows the light purple and bright pink azaleas in the foreground with a black lamppost, brown gazebo, and bright green ivy in the background. ]

05/05/2021

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! In the 19th century, hydrangeas symbolized gratitude according to the Victorian language of flowers. We are so grateful for all educators, especially those we worked with during this challenging year! We dedicate these hydrangeas to you!

[Image description: Light pink hydrangeas and an abundance of large green leaves in the Museum’s garden]

05/02/2021

This is a bell lantern from our Upper Hall. It is made of elegantly curved glass, and has an etched design of grapes and leaves. Lamps like these were a popular luxury good in the early 19th century, and several of them can be seen throughout the Museum. This lantern would have easily lit the large upper hall while impressing visitors with its style. This lantern would have been filled with water, with a layer of whale oil floating on the top with a wick. The wick would then have lit the highly flammable oil for long periods of time, until the oil burned off and the lamp self-extinguished.

[Image description: Inverted bell-shaped glass lantern hanging from the Museum’s ceiling on a chain. The lantern is amber-colored.]