FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Maney, Director, Hyde Hall, (607) 547-5098
Springfield, New York—Hyde Hall’s Tin Top Gatehouse, which originally gave entrance to the extensive, landscaped grounds of the estate and led up to the front of the Mansion, will return to that function beginning May 9th with the grand opening of Hyde Hall’s newly renovated Visitor Center. Through a generous grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, obtained by Senator James Seward, the two-winged 1820’s structure with its distinctive tin-sheathed cupola has been repurposed to house Hyde Hall’s ticket office, bookstore and exhibit space, as well as a kitchenette and study room for tour staff.
Senator Seward will headline the grand opening at 11am, and join Hyde Hall Board members in cutting the ribbon at 11:30. He will be joined by Ruth Pierpont, Deputy Commissioner of NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Tours of the structure and the Mansion will follow at 12 Noon. The event will be accessed via Hyde Hall’s Mill Road entrance to the Tin Top parking area.
Originally located on the main road between Cooperstown and Springfield (now Route 31) Tin Top was moved to its current location inside Glimmerglass State Park in the 1970s to protect it from vandalism.
Immediately following the Tin Top inaugural ceremony, Hyde Hall’s annual Celebrate Mom! Garden Party will kick off the 2015 season of community and cultural events. Tea and treats will be served in the elegant drawing room of this English-style country mansion, Jill Maney PhD. will present the newly-installed stair carpet woven at Thistle Hill Weavers of Sharon Springs, and Angelica Palmer and Friends will entertain with madrigals from the Renaissance. The Tin Top Visitor Center will be open throughout the event. The Garden Party, which celebrates mothers of all ages and their families, is free to the public.
Hyde Hall (hydehall.org.mylampsite.com), a National Historic Landmark and New York State Historic Site, was built between 1817 and 1834 as the centerpiece of a 120,000-acre estate inherited by George Clarke, a British-born landowner. It was inhabited by direct descendants of the Clarke until the 1940s. It is open for guided tours from May through September, and visitors of all ages will enjoy its beautiful grounds overlooking Otsego Lake and touring its rich collection of furniture, paintings, and decorative arts. It is located on the grounds of Glimmerglass State Park in Springfield, New York, eight miles north of Cooperstown.
