Page 18 - Benchmark Living - Fall 2024

Fun Things To Do
Benchmark at Mount Pleasant is only a short distance away from beautiful sights and sounds. Take in a jazz concert, browse a local library, tour historic mansions, experience classic movies on the big screen or dine at delicious eateries. Best of all, Benchmark at Mount Pleasant’s comprehensive social calendar allows you to take advantage of many local attractions without planning your own travel.
History
Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate
Located in historic Sleepy Hollow (15 minutes from Benchmark at Mount Pleasant), Kykuit was home to four generations of the Rockefeller family, beginning with Standard
Oil founder John D. Rockefeller. Choose the tour of the mansion that suits you best — ranging in length from 1.5 to 3 hours. Also in Sleepy Hollow is Philipsburg Manor, a colonial-era farming, milling and trading center that has been restored to its 1750 appearance. Regular educational programs show how Dutch, African and Native American cultures connected here.
Lyndhurst
At this majestic estate on the banks of the Hudson River in Tarrytown — located about 10 miles from Benchmark at Mount Pleasant — explore an American architectural gem or stroll the beautiful grounds. Also in Tarrytown is Washington Irving’s Sunnyside, where the legacy of this founding father of American literature is preserved in the form of a two-room Dutch stone house with Tudor-style chimneys and Dutch stepped gables. Both the house
and grounds have been restored to look much as they did in the 1850s, with many original furnishings and the same wisteria vine that Irving himself planted.
Union Church of Pocantico Hills
Just a 10-minute drive from Benchmark at Mount Pleasant, this historic church is renowned for its stained-glass windows commissioned by the Rockefeller family and crafted by European masters like Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall.
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