Boscobel, the Federal style mansion and grounds in Garrison, has posted a troika of notable numbers this summer: 800 visitors July 4 for a patriotic concert; 400 on July 18 for a blues concert; and 36 children who attended the Wet-n-Wiggly presentation beside the Boscobel Lake July 16.
Wet-n-Wiggly (“Ewww!”) and Boscobel (“Aaaah!”) at first blush would appear to be the strangest of bedfellows. But the site”™s new director, 60-year-old David Krol, just three weeks on the job, pointed to the pollywog-themed event as an example of what Boscobel should look toward: innovative ways to market itself. Attendance at 15,000 per year, he said, “is on the low side.”
Krol”™s resume´ in the arena of museums, collections and cultural marketing includes executive positions with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Museum of Natural History and deputy directorship of the Lobkowicz family collections in the Czech Republic, one of the world”™s great repositories of music (original works by Beethoven and Mozart), art (Brueghel and Velasquez) and firearms, which the family regained after losing everything ”“ “And I mean everything,” Krol stressed ”“ first to the Nazis and then to the Communists.
“In my three weeks here I have been talking to visitors. I want to know how they found out about Boscobel. There is the local person who has already been here and is returning with new friends and family. And there is the New York City person who says, ”˜I did not realize you were so close. Why haven”™t I been here before?”™ There are a lot of attractions in the Hudson Valley and a lot of people have missed Boscobel completely.”
The site has for the past 25 years hosted the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, which this year will bring 32,000 paying theatergoers to the high-tech, semi-enclosed performance tent on the lawn above what Krol identifies as a failed rice farm across from West Point.
Abigail Adams, the managing director of the festival (HVSF), said “It”™s a fantastic relationship. It”™s very symbiotic; we work very well together.” Specifically, “We bring in a lot of people. They receive exposure to such a fantastic museum and with that there is a sharing of information that continues.”
Adams said the economic spillover of the HVSF is such that, “”˜Pericles”™ and ”˜Cymbeline”™ have become part of the local vocabulary in Cold Spring. Who knew?”
She said one-third of attendees are from Westchester, another third are from Dutchess and Putnam counties and the remainder are mostly from the five boroughs, New Jersey and Connecticut. HVSF also reaches directly into Garrison via its relationship with the Philipstown Depot Theatre, through which is hosts “In Process,” an experimental theater program.
Krol knows his history and shares it enthusiastically. This is Boscobel”™s 50th anniversary where it stands. It was built in Montrose a dozen miles away in 1806 and saved from the wrecking ball by Lila Acheson Wallace (of Reader”™s Digest) after it had been sold for $35 for scrap. At its 1961 unveiling on its present Garrison bluff, Nelson Rockefeller ”“ who would know ”“ called it “one of the loveliest homes ever built in America.”
The grounds contain the Frances Stevens Reese Woodland Trail, a fanciful mile and a quarter with small bridges and a tumbling brook.
It”™s a setting Krol sees as perfect for corporate gatherings, weddings, reunions and the like. The West Meadow has its own gathering tent and has been improved with a new walkway and serpentine boxwood hedge. The overarching theme is “to complement the collections, the house and the grounds. Whatever we do, it is going to be high quality. Boscobel is one of the great stars of the Hudson Valley and I want to keep us at that high pitch.”
An example of what is to come might be found in the Czech Republic, where visitors to the Lobkowicz galleries are guided by an innovative audio tour, narrated by two generations of the Lobkowicz family. Krol described “tears running down the faces” of listeners as narration gives way to strains of Beethoven while standing in front of the original score. Another example is already found on the Boscobel grounds as sculptures, the result of a partnership with the Garrison Art Center. His off days have been spent trolling other valley historic sites. Those interested in Federal architecture and furniture would find an encyclopedic friend in Krol. The docents at Olana, the Frederic Church mansion in Columbia County, were apparently unaware one of their charges was Boscobel”™s director. “I just went as a tourist to see what they do,” he said.
Whatever ideas are incorporated, “We want any relationships or partnerships to feature Boscobel as the leader in the enterprise, not just lending our name. Not that we would act at the expense of the other institution.” On cue, the wind flipped his tie ”“ tasteful; first-rate ”“ to expose its marketing link: The tie was from The Museum of Natural History.
He said “We are open to corporate relationships. We do need funding. Programs, creative exhibits ”“ like the ”˜Hudson River Contemporary Works on Paper”™ going on now through September 15 ”“ and the property all require money.
“People may not appreciate there is always something going on here, such as research and scholarship work,” he said.
In the future, additions could include greater use of the property during the three months ”“ January, February and March ”“ it is currently closed. Harking to musical successes in the Czech Republic, Krol floated the idea of inside winter concerts.
