A Journey Through Time: Harvest Hunt at Locust Grove in 1901
What was it like to live in 1901? In a beautiful recreation of life in the early 20th century, Locust Grove’s ageless beauty brought the past and present together.
Visitors are able to enjoy the beauty of the Hudson Valley between the months of September and October at the Locus Grove Harvest Hunt with different overall themes. This year, the theme is pumpkin-themed with a scavenger hunt and storytelling walk among the trees and flowers of Locust Grove.
The main home at Locust Grove is an Italianate-style mansion that architect Alexander Jackson Davis created in 1850 for artist and inventor, Samuel F. B. Morse. The new owners after Morse, William and Martha Young, had the home renovated 50 years later. Their daughter, Annette Innis Young, founded the non-profit educational organization in 1979 which keeps the estate preserved as a museum today.
Follow Annette Young’s life through her diary entries from when she lived at Locust Grove on this Harvest Hunt. Starting at the age of 16, Young’s diary follows her for the next 80 years when she lived, in the Locust Grove. She documented what she did, who would come to visit, her hopes and dreams and fears.
Annette Young spent the last 20 years of her life gathering all her entries and organizing them for future use. It was not just Annette Young that kept diary entries, all five of the family members of the Young family kept their own diaries.
The diaries reveal the family was artistic and athletic. They collected art, antiques, and treasures in a trove. The family was also very generous, they gave a lot of money to Gallaudet home for the deaf, and indigenous women’s fund, and always participated in clothing drives. For Annette Young, she loved animals and had a number of pets. She was one of the founding members of the ASPCA in Poughkeepsie.
The Young family’s 15,000-item collection of furniture, paintings, and decorative arts is on display at the estate today, precisely as they were in the early 20th century when the estate first opened to the public.
“I think what you feel when you come here is that this place was really well loved. It's her home.” Says Emily Ellison, Director of Programs and Marketing at Locust Grove Estate.
Only a year and a half ago, Ellison finally found her place at the Locust Grove Estate after waiting seven long years. Since joining the nonprofit, Ellison has actively participated in the activities of the Estate together with other motivated volunteers. These volunteers are essential to the production of the scavenger hunt’s pumpkins as well as the thorough transcription of the Young Family’s diaries.
The motivation behind this commemorative event, Ellison expressed, “We wanted to celebrate the people who lived and worked here because it took 14 full-time staff members to keep this place. We want to give them names and faces. We wanted to honor those people as well.”
In the heart of Poughkeepsie, New York, the non-profit Locust Grove Estate draws visitors in with its historic mansion, accessible tours, and its vast 200-acre landscape with five miles of hiking trails. Additionally, the estate has a visitor welcome center with classrooms for enhancing educational programs, art galleries, and a museum shop.
You can travel back in time and experience the attraction of life in the early 1900s at the Locust Grove Harvest Fest. This unique event, which brought together the past and the present, served as a reminder of the rich history that continues to grow at the Locust Grove Estate.
