staatsburgh state historic site / mills mansion

When built, this Greek Revival style home was the home of Ogden Mills and his wife Ruth Livingston Mills. Under current renovation, this property retains many of its original architectural details, and beauty of its Gilded Age. This Beaux-Arts mansion definitely deserves a visit to be enjoyed for those historians and nostalgic dreamers. Make your reservations as they are already getting full. The Estate's Footman was our guide. The tour was excellent and very informative about the family, their ancestors and the collected pieces. As a state park, the property is open for snow sledding, and long walks to enjoy its nature. Would make an excellent year round visit.I would return again to show it off to my visitors that want to experience the Guilded Hudson Valley age.

We visited to take a special tour called "The End of the Guilded Age and the Start of World War I". The tour was very informative about that time period and how it affected the lifestyle of the Mills family and their contemporaries.Our tour guide was Fraser and he was excellent. Well worth a visit.

Although the Mid-Hudson Valley seems to teem with Gilded Age historic sites, from famous mansion to more obscure sites, the guest experience at the Mills Mansion tops them all, including the NPS-led tours of the nearby Vanderbilt House. The staff at this state historic site--overworked and underpaid, as usual--definitely makes the most of what they have in creative and interesting ways. For example, I visited recently and was fortunate enough to be on the very first of their themed "World War I and the end of the Gilded Age" tours. It was a little rough around the edges, as any such thing would be on its test drive, but the guide was engaging and informative, which is the most one can ask for out of a guest experience. So don't pass this up if you're in the area.

Another wonderful mansion well worth the time and small fee. The staff are very passionate, informing and entertaining. Don't miss the beauty of this wonderful mansion and beautiful estate.

I took the self-guided walking tour of the Mill's Mansion for Christmas and it is a very impressive tour. The house is in much better shape than it had been in six years ago and it was full of people interested in the house. They had a lot of children in the house for a special tour the house was sponsoring so it was nice to see other people and the decorations were done so tastefully. It was as if you were invited to the house for the holidays. It is a must on the mansion tours of the area.

We visited Mills Mansion two weekends in a row, one weekend to attend the Car Show and second weekend to visit this Greek Revival mansion, first visits for both for us. Both are excellent ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. Our Mills Mansion tour was the WWI tour with our great tour guide, Fraser. Tour was one and one half hours long and very informative. Wear comfortable shoes! It is a fascinating look at a very different time and place. Amazing restoration work that is ongoing. No cameras allowed. Bathroom facilities available and a wonderful gift shop, complete with lovely items for us Downton Abbey fanatics. We are definitely going back for the Christmas tour during the holidays. There are also wonderful themed tours, such as the Downton Abbey tour this winter. For those of us who love looking back on history, this tour is a real treat.

This is an excellent showplace of how rich lived. When it is completely refurbished it will be breathtaking. It is a little dim in parts, but I think that is too hide some of the run down parts. While it is lovely that the family gave this to the state, some sort of yearly stipend would be nice to help with renovations. The amount of care in matching fabrics and authenticity is remarkable. Beready for stairs! Put this one on your list!

OK, we spent a week in the Hudson River Valley going to the Roosevelt complex of buildings and all of the guilded age mansions from the middle to the northern Hudson Valley area. Of all of the mansions, this is the one you HAVE to see. Springwood and the Vanderbuilt mansions were incredible disappointments. No lights to you could not see anything on the walls or any of the furnishings, they were like going inside a cave. Montgomery Place, however, was a joy! Yes, they still shielded the windows to some extent, but there was enough natural light that you could really see and appreciate the interior of the mansions. Also, the lay out was by far superior and open and so spacious, but welcoming and not cold and hotel-like that you felt that, if you had the money, this was actually a place that you and your family could live in. The foyer and the house in general has fantastic woodwork. The marble walls and floors in the dining room were unbelievable. The furnishings incredibly tastful. The bedrooms full of light and really seemed welcoming. The tour was equally amazing. Be sure to get on Marilyn's tour. What a font of knowledge! We had the best 1.5 hour tour and she knew just EVERYTHING about the people who owned the place and the gossip about them and the story of the renovation of the mansion. You really felt you were getting the inside scoop, not just some robot regurgitating what they had memorized. You also have to go to that museum shop. This and Olana had the best things to buy and look at. Also very reasonably priced, but really unusual. Some incredible bead work was for sale and lots of books on the area and things to do there. This is truly the best displayed and most magnificent of all of the Hudson River Valley mansions from Poughkipsee to Hudson. A MUST see and not very crowded, I must say. Kind of a pity because it is such an amazing place.

I haven't taken the Mansion Tour in years, but plan on doing the Christmas Tour again this year; it is great. This time I visited to walk/hike the Grounds. No charge. Free parking. Trails were well marked, but it's still easy to get lost. Get a TRAIL MAP from one of the Park Offices, and wear sensible shoes! Views along the Hudson River are awesome. School children on a field trip at the Environmental Center looked like they were having a great time. Kayak rental are available at the Marina. Years ago, we use to sleigh ride down the hill in back of the Mansion.

I debated whether to give Mills Mansion a 1 or 2 star rating. One of the worst things a place can do is close their doors during the hours they're supposed to be opened. We heard another couple complaining about it at Wilderstein, that they too had been to Mills Mansion, and it was closed. There was just a little sign on the door that said 'closed', no explanation. We weren't the only ones wandering around the property, confused as to why the place was closed. This messed up our plans for the day. Such a disappointment.

We were glad to have seen this mansion, with its historically important connections with the Mills and Livingstone families. The guide was amiable, very well informed about the history of the house and family, and enthusiastic. One thing to be aware of is that major excavation is going on immediately outside the house at the moment to correct problems with the its sewage/drainage system, so for a while only portable lavatories are available. But it is still worth a visit, and there is much more to be seen, especially on the second floor of the house, than initially meets the eye.

Utterly beautiful home ( although in desperate need of more renovations) that was used only 2 months a year by anothe Hudson Valley family of the super rich of the Gilded Age. Excellent tour of the home and you are free to roam the magnificent ground that sweep down to the Hudson River. A great example of how the rich could spend lavish amounts of money before the enactment of income taxes! Modest entrance fee.

The best thing about Mills Mansion is not the house itself but the lawn behind the house. It's beautiful. There is an open area sloping downward towards the river. There are large oak trees providing shade. You get the most beautiful view of the Hudson River. The grassy area is just beyond the parking lot to the left and behind the Mills Mansion. The area tends to be very quiet. I would suggest bringing a picnic basket for lunch and a blanket to lie on. The mansion generally doesn't get many visitors so it is very serene. Here is a photo of the river from the lawn. And best of all it's free!!!!

We didn't tout this estate but walked the trails surrounding it and they are really nice. Perfect for day tromp thru the woods. We took the white trail down by the river and enjoyed the peacefulness of it all.

Having seen the big name grand houses of the Hudson Valley, we finally sought out this large and important, but slightly less known, grand home. It is well worth your time to search out -- easy to find but off the beaten path. It is certainly the grandest of the grand -- 79 rooms, built to impress. The mirror image library and dining room, both in the Stanford White additions to the original house, are particularly grand – each at 30 ft x 50 ft, with high, high ceilings and grand decoration. However, much of the interior (and some of the exterior) is a long, long way from being restored. Owned by the State of New York, restoration is going room by room, so some are indeed restored to grandeur, others more in a state of shabby decrepitude, rather like a grande dame fallen on very hard times. Carol, our volunteer tour guide, was a gem.One hint -- signage about where to enter for tours is very, very sparse -- as of May 2014 you need to seek out a small basement door on the back (river)side of the house, beyond the central portico and towards the south end of the house. The gift shop (once the gentlemen’s billiard room) is enormous, and has many, many good books on the area and the gilded age.