The Story of Locust Grove

THE PILGRIMAGE

On Wednesday, September 21st, 1932, the fifteenth pilgrimage of the Dutchess County Historical Society took place and it will long be remembered as a particularly enjoyable occasion. The weather was suited to a long day out of doors and, as 78 cars were present in the morning and 80 in the afternoon by actual count at given times, it is assumed that the total number was really larger, inasmuch as the personnel of the party changed occasionally during the day. The attendance can be estimated as from 250 to 300 persons, representing all parts of Dutchess.

In Dutchess the period of the pioneer, when fields were cleared and roads laid out, was later and shorter than in some other parts of the Hudson Valley and, at a rather early date, there arose in the county a social life that exhibited cultural standards of a high degree of excellence. The visits made on this pilgrimage to Locust Grove ( 1771 ) , Linwood ( 1796 ) , Wildercliff ( 1799 ) and Ellerslie ( 1809 ) served to illustrate the period in which a marked rise in living conditions occurred here and in which a gracious and charming mode of life took form.

A copy of the program for the pilgrimage is recorded here for future reference and it need only be added that the society is grateful to the hostesses, hosts and speakers and to all who cooperated in making this fifteenth pilgrimage so successful. FIFTEENTH PILGRIMAGE

Wednesday, September 21, 1932 Daylight Saving Time Basket Lunches PLAN OF PILGRIMAGE

In the morning the centennial anniversary of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel Finley Breese Morse will be observed at Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, the former home of Mr. Morse.

Pilgrims will be the guests at Locust Grove of Mrs. William Hopkins Young, the present owner of the estate.

After being received by Mrs. Young, pilgrims will gather on the south lawn. A short program will then take place, when the President, Mr. W. Willis Reese, will preside and introduce the speakers: Miss Leila Livingston Morse of Monterey, Massachusetts ; William S. Thomas, M.D., of New York City; and Miss Helen Wilkinson Reynolds of Poughkeepsie. Luncheon will follow the addresses.

In the afternoon three old estates at Rhinebeck—Linwood, Wildercliff and Ellerslie—which are near each other and rich in traditions, will be visited.

Linwood was created as a country-seat about 1796 by Dr. Thomas Tillotson and Margaret Livingston, his wife, and occupies one of the most commanding sites along the Hudson. Pilgrims will be the guests of the Messrs. Ruppert and of Mr. J. Ruppert Schalk.

Wildercliff dates from 1799 and

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