Walkway links homes of famed Hudson River School artists

When I heard there was going to be a way to walk from one artist's historic house over the Hudson River on a lovely bridge named after a fictional character, then into a forest and up to another famous artist's historic house, I couldn't wait. The adventure included all my things – walking, historic architecture, art, literature, my favorite river and the woods.

So I picked a non-rainy day to walk the new Hudson River Skywalk connecting the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site, which is named for the singular house built there by painter Frederic Edwin Church. I parked at the Cole site in Catskill; it's right next to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, which opened in 1935.

That the two houses are being physically linked is meaningful since Cole was Frederic Edwin Church's teacher. Cole is considered the father of the Hudson River School of painting and both houses face each other. Everywhere you look are the views that made these artists who they were. Cole's place is a simpler structure in the Federal style, but just as impressive. Olana is an ornate mix of Victorian and Middle Eastern architecture.

So, armed with a camera, I headed toward the bridge. At the Cole house a crew was planting flowers and sprucing up the grounds ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the $11 million project, which was scheduled a few days after my visit.

As I walked toward the cantilever bridge, I noticed the small park next to the tollbooth There's a viewing platform with an Adirondack chair and a picnic table that offers an outstanding vista of the bridge, the river and Olana. There's a historic marker on a rock noting the dates of when the bridge was constructed (1934-35), a fog bell and some interpretive signs.

The pathway is on the south side of the bridge, which carries Route 23 over the Hudson...