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Photo: ajay_suresh, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Bardavon was established in 1869, and now takes part in many legendary musical performances. Closed for the summers, reopens in September, prices varied, accepts all major credit cards, personal checks, cash, and gift cards.
The Bardavon 1869 Opera House, in the downtown district of Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, is the oldest continuously operating theater in New York State. Designed by J.A. Wood, it was built in 1869 and served as a venue for various performing arts, community meetings, and celebrations until 1923; it largely resumed this heritage by becoming a general performing-arts facility in 1976. In the interlude period from 1923 to 1975, it served as a cinema, although there were some live performances, especially vaudeville, during this period. Originally called the Collingwood Opera House after its owner and operator James Collingwood, the theater featured an unusual two-stage dome. Between 1869 and 1921, many notable figures of the day graced the Bardavon's stage, including Sarah Bernhardt and John Barrymore.
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The Mid-Hudson Children's Museum is an interactive, hands-on museum with a variety of different exhibits all focused on Hudson Valley heritage, technology, and science. For children up to age 12.
Dogs Allowed, Handicap Accessible. The Bridge connects Poughkeepsie to Highland and it has a long history; it was built in 1888 as a railroad bridge, and it caught fire in 1974 and was too expensive to tear down. Today it is the longest pedestrian footbridge in the world at 6,768 feet (1.28 miles) long. Being 212 feet over the Hudson River it gives you a great view of the sunset and the skyline of Poughkeepsie and Highland.
Private liberal arts college founded in 1905, with a 180-acre main campus overlooking the Hudson River.
Founded in 1861, Vassar College is a highly selective, residential, coeducational liberal arts college. Consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus. Especially noteworthy is the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, which has ancient, medieval, Asian, European and American art and objects, well worth a visit. The Center is free to visit; open Tuesday through Saturday, 10AM-5PM, Thursdays open until 9PM; Sundays, 1PM to 5PM. Closed Mondays. The grounds of the college are quite lovely (in good weather); the campus is maintained as an arboretum, with more than 200 varieties of trees on 1,000 acres.
The former estate of Samuel F.B. Morse, whose patent of the electromagnetic telegraph revolutionized human communication. Set on 150 acres, the Italianate villa was designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis.