I suggest reading up on the history of the gardens to help you appreciate them that much more. It's free and you're able to walk around and enjoy the peaceful garden and fountains. It's a great place for a picnic too as there's a big area of grass right before the garden. Lovely gardens, grounds and home. We had a nice picnic on the grounds and visited all fantastic statues. The flowers are beautiful and the home is spectacular! Take the time to visit Yaddo and imagine the artists and authors who have shared their talents starting in those beautiful surroundings. I have been to these gardens on many occasions. I recently went in the late Fall as I needed a quiet place to think. I certainly understand why this houses writers! No matter where you go, if you stay in your car or not---there is always some view to allow you to decompress. Its super quiet and all of the... As a child, Yaddo was like my backyard. I almost took it for granted. Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, I look back on my childhood as magical -- and Yaddo Gardens was a big part of it.
There's lots of history here -- and a few ghost stories as well. With all of the great things to do in Saratoga you may skip Yaddo but don't! Great place to visit during the day to avoid all the Saratoga crowds or for a break from it. You can lay out on the lawns, play Frisbee, take pics of the fountains or enjoy a walk on the grounds and in the wonderful... We really enjoyed our visit to Yaddo Gardens. The fountains and roses were beautiful. We took a nice quiet walk, lingered on a bench, and admired the beauty of the gardens. As a bonus, parking is free! We were happy that this was on our list of things to do while we were visiting Saratoga.nice to go with parents or out of town friends. the gardens could use a bit of maintenance help.Historic spot with lovely gardens. Would love to take a guided tour and learn more about this spot. Lovely and tranquil as long as you ignore the traffic sounds from the nearby highway. As the previous writer says, it is better to read about the gardens prior to visiting.
Very beautiful and interesting gardens to visit. Helpful to read a bit about the gardens prior to visiting.Once the private home of poet, Katrina Trask and her husband Spencer Trask, Yaddo is now an artist colony in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Trasks purchased the property in 1881, and named it Yaddo. The main house burned down 10 years after the Trasks bought the property. Architect William Halsey Wood designed a new house for the family which was completed in 1893 and still serves as the main building in the Yaddo community. After the deaths of their four children, the Trasks envisioned turning their property into a retreat for artists and, in 1900, The Corporation of Yaddo was formed. Spenser Trask died in 1909. Near the end of her life Katrina, then a widow, remarried a friend of the family, George Foster Peabody. After Katrina's death in 1922, George Foster Peabody continued working to make Yaddo an artist community. In 1922 he hired Elizabeth Ames as executive director.
Ames opened Yaddo to its first guests in 1926. The philosophy behind Yaddo is to give artists a quite place to work, free of distraction. Guest artists spend their days alone in cottages and individual rooms. Artists who stay at Yaddo have all of their room and board expenses paid for by the Yaddo Foundation. Acceptance as a Yaddo guest is based on an artist's work and recommendations. As Spenser Task described in his dream for Yaddo, "It is such as these whom we would have enjoy the hospitality of Yaddo their sole qualifications being that they have done, are doing or give promise of doing good and earnest work." The Yaddo mansion is furnished with Tiffany glass and heavy Victorian furniture. The property has rose and rock gardens which were designed by Spenser Trask, as a gift to his wife Katrina.Publishers Weekly 229 (1986): 32-35."Yaddo Artists' Colony: An Oasis of Peace and Inspiration in Upstate New York." Architectural Digest 53 (1996): 34-37. Fischer, Mary A. "Places in the Sun."
29 Horizon (1986): 10-13.The Library of America, 1988.Letters of Flannery O'Connor: The Habit of Being. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Yaddo and The New York Public Library Flannery O'Connor first wrote to Yaddo director, Elizabeth Ames, in November of 1947 at which time she requested to spend the following summer at the community. Her application lists Paul Engle, Andrew Lytle, and Austin Warren as references. O'Connor received an invitation to live at Yaddo in 1948. O'Connor left Iowa to live at the community from June to July of that year where she worked on her first novel Wise Blood. She returned to the colony in mid-September after turning down a fellowship Paul Engle offered her in Iowa. She remained at Yaddo through Christmas, and learned in early January that she would be able to stay beyond March of 1949. O'Connor's intended stay was cut short amid controversy in February of 1949. Long time Yaddo guest, Agnes Smedley, was accused of being a communist spy in a New York Times article published on February 11, 1949.
During this controversy there were only four guests at Yaddo: Robert Lowell, Edward Maisel, Elizabeth Hardwick, and Flannery O'Connor. The artists discovered Yaddo and Elizabeth Ames had been under investigation by the FBI and were concerned that Yaddo had been used to hide Smedley's political agenda. The four artists believed Elizabeth Ames should leave the community, based on the belief that she was protecting Agnes Smedley's political agenda. The group approached the Yaddo board voicing their concerns. After two hearings conducted by the board, Ames was found innocent of any wrong doing. Amid the publicized controversy, O'Connor and Lowell left Yaddo. O'Connor lived for a short time in a room at the YWCA in New York City. She was later invited back to Yaddo, but after the controversy, she never returned. While there was much publicity and controversy associated with O'Connor's tenure at Yaddo, it was also a place where she was able to write and meet other authors. O'Connor was working on her first novel Wise Blood while she was a resident at Yaddo.