April 11: Lyndhurst

We had a great day today, touring historic sites in Westchester. We started at Lyndhurst (pictured) - the country "villa" of former NYC mayor Paulding that was bought and cherished by the Merritt and then Gould families. It's on 67 acres in Tarrytown, NY with a gigantic plant conservatory (no longer in use) and gorgeous grounds to walk around. After enjoying a nice lunch in town, we then headed over to the Union Church at Pocantico where there is Matisse's last work -- a stained glass window he complete on commission for the Rockefellers 2 days before he died. The church also has almost a dozen stained glass windows designed by Chagall. It was a wonderful way to spend a day - and Stephen and I are already mapping out the next weekends' historic house visits.