The last parcel of the former New York country estate of the founder of Vassar College is now protected.
The Open Space Institute and Springside Landscape Restoration say they have protected the 2-acre “Scraggy Knoll” property in downtown Poughkeepsie. OSI’s grant of $16,000 allowed the nonprofit group to conserve the property and welcome Scraggy Knoll back into Springside. Springside is the only largely intact and documented example nationally of Andrew Jackson Downing, known as the father of American landscape architecture. In 1850, Poughkeepsie brewer and community leader Matthew Vassar hired Downing to design the country estate on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie. Scenic Hudson also supported the project with a grant of around $8,500.
