JANE 2019 Hudson Valley Tour Friday, June 21 through Sunday, June 23
Rallymasters: Dave Moulton, Kevin Murphy and Bob Gosende
Overview: JANE is pleased to offer a driving tour into the Hudson Valley in June. This is a pleasure-driving event on country roads in Berkshire, Columbia and Dutchess Counties, with numerous stops and entertainments along the way. On Friday, June 21, we will drive from Stockbridge, MA to Rhinebeck, NY. Dinner on Friday will be at the Culinary Institute of America, in their gourmet restaurant Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici. Saturday morning will include a short driving tour near Rhinebeck, leading to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (admission will be $23, cash only), where we will watch the antique aircraft airshow. We are on our own for dinner. After checkout on Sunday, the tour will take us to the Hillrock Estate Distillery in Ancram, NY, for a tasting tour of their remarkable whiskies. From there, Route Instructions take us back to Stockbridge, where the tour concludes. Event schedule and details: The event will start on the front porch of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA, between 10:30 and 11:30 am on Friday morning. Route Instructions will be provided for each leg of our tour, including total mileage and mileage from the last instruction, including road identifications at each instruction. Each car will proceed on its own (although collusion is welcome). There are no traps or gimmicks, and getting lost is strictly forbidden. All roads are paved (with one 300 yard exception – you’ll see). From the start, we will proceed westward into New York State, with an optional stop at Morgan Motors of New England (morgan-spares.com), OUR local dealer for Morgans, the cars that are still built they way they used to make ‘em. There will be a lunch break at Dad’s Copake Diner in Copake, NY, for those who are peckish. Fuel is also available in Copake.
Morgan Motors of New England After lunch, entrants will drive across Columbia and Dutchess Counties to Rhinebeck, NY, to check in at the historic Beekman Arms Inn/Delameter Inn in mid-afternoon. Tour distance is ca. 70 miles.
The Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, NY
After a short drive down Route 9 to Hyde Park (ca. 13 miles) starting at 4:30 pm, we will tour the Culinary Institute of America at 5 pm and have dinner at Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici at 6 pm.
Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici On Saturday at 10:30 am, we’ll do a short driving tour (ca. 45 miles) around Rhinebeck, Red Hook and Milan, ending at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (oldrhinebeck.org), where we’ll gather in our own parking area for a tour, an informal car show and lunch (the food counter is cash only, no credit cards). At 2 pm, we get to watch their Saturday air-show of WWI and earlier vintage aircraft. FYI, during the actual show, our parking lot will be closed and our cars will not be accessible.
The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Following the air-show, we will repair to the Beekman Arms Inn and/or other restaurants for dinner (ahem, “Dutch treat”, of course). You might want to check out TripAdvisor or Yelp and make reservations beforehand. As usual, a good time will be had by all! Sunday morning at 10:30 am, after checkout, our tour will head east across the valley to the remarkable Hillrock Estate Distillery (hillrockdistillery.com) near Ancram. They make very high-end whiskies (a Solera Aged Bourbon, a Single Malt Whiskey and a Double Cask Rye) that are quite highly regarded. Those who do not wish to visit the distillery can continue on toward Stockbridge without stopping. Lunch is also available nearby at The Farmer’s Wife in Ancramdale (our route goes right by it), as well as further on, in South Egremont (Mom’s Café and The Old Mill). Or, you could wait until Stockbridge and have a late lunch at the Red Lion Inn.
Hillrock Distillery The Hillrock Estate Distillery offers a tasting tour for $20 (refundable if (a) you don’t drink and/or (b) you buy some of their whiskey), and from there we will proceed back to Stockbridge and the Mass Pike, and on toward home. Tour distance is ca. 70 miles. As always, really interesting roads and scenery will be provided for your driving pleasure. Costs: We estimate costs at around $450 for lodging (2 nights), plus perhaps $175/person for meals, fuel, drinks and incidentals. There will also be a $25/person club fee to cover club expenses and handouts. Your registration fee ($115) includes that club fee plus tour, dinner, tip and tax at the Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici. Additional expenses will include $23 admission to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, including a tour, and a $20 tasting fee at Hillrock Estate Distillery (refundable if you don’t drink or if you buy some of their whiskey). Contact the Beekman Arms Inn at (845) 876-7077 and ask for a room with the Jaguar group on the Delameter property. Some people may want also to book a night at the Red Lion Inn (413-298-5545) on June 20, prior to the event. Several entrants already have. The Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici has limited seating availability, so the first 17 cars to register are guaranteed seats at that restaurant. We will accept an additional 8 cars (25 total), but they will be on their own for dinner on Friday night (we recommend the Beekman Arms Inn – reservations are essential). Their registration fee will be reduced accordingly. Just so you know, we are really looking forward to this. Thanks for considering it.
And just so you know, the area encompassing western Massachusetts, eastern New York, northeastern Connecticut and southern Vermont is ever more frequently being referred to as the summer cultural capitol of the United States because of the dense offerings of music and arts events of the highest order taking place here each summer. During the second half of June, around when JANE will be at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome, the following events are on offer: The Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox MA., the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will present Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, on June 15 with Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson appearing the next evening, June 16. Tanglewood is located some 57 miles from Rhinebeck really enroute to Rhinebeck for our membership. The Freihofer Jazz Festival, one of our country's most highly regarded annual jazz events, will take place on Saturday June and Sunday June 29 and 30, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, NY. SPAC is located 30 miles north of Albany, NY, just off US Interstate 87. SPAC is 92 miles from Rhinebeck. The Litchfield Hills town of Norfolk, CT. is the summer home of the Yale University Summer School of Music which performs in the magnificent Staengel Music Shed, one of our country's most elegant summer performance venues which underwent a complete renovation five years ago. On Fridays and Saturdays during June, July, and August, the rigorously selected student musicians and their professors and prominent special invitation guest artists present Chamber and Choir and New Music to an always fully-booked audience. The schedule for this summer is not yet available but it will be online later this spring. This region is replete with outstanding lodging and eateries so it will be hard not to find pleasure during this visit and certainly June, July, and August are the good weather months!