The main house at Locust Grove is a villa in the Italianate style designed in 1850 for artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse by architect Alexander Jackson Davis. Fifty years later the house was renovated and expanded for new owners William and Martha Young. Their daughter, Annette Innis Young, eventually created the foundation that preserves the Estate as a museum today. Morse was strongly influenced by romantic 19th-century landscape garden design. At Locust Grove he found natural features that he used to frame views, create vistas, and provide comfortable settings in which to relax and enjoy the beauty of the landscape.
The designed landscape at Locust Grove is a living collection in two parts. The Park, created by Samuel Morse during his residency (1842-1872) is a rare survivor of the 19th century romantic landscape movement which advocated a painterly, idealized approach to nature. Trees, native and exotic are sited in naturalistic groupings along an oval drive. The mansion is gradually revealed as the visitor approaches through majestic European beeches, hickory, and Ginko .
While no furnishings survive from the Morse family’s years at Locust Grove, the Museum Pavilion is the home of a permanent exhibit that explores Samuel Morse’s two careers, first as an artist and later as the inventor of the telegraph and Morse Code. Original works of art, including portraits, landscapes, drawings and sculpture from all phases of his career illustrate the range of his talent. In the Telegraph Gallery, reproductions of Morse’s early telegraph models introduce visitors to the electromagnetic telegraph. The exhibition continues to chronicle the development of telegraph equipment through the early 20th century and is an important part of Locust Grove’s school field trip programs.
Locust Grove Visitor Center
Open Monday – Friday from 10 am – 5 pm January 3 – April 6
Open Daily from 10 am – 5 pm April 9 – December 31
Locust Grove Mansion Tours
May 1 – November 30, Guided tours offered daily April & December, Guided tours offered on weekends only
Tour departure times:
- 10:15am
- 11:30am
- 12:45pm
- 2:00pm
- 3:15pm
Tour fee: $10 Adults, $6 Youths (6-18)
Locust Grove Group Tours By appointment, year-round For group fees, click here
Locust Grove Gardens & Grounds
8:00 AM to dusk, year-round
Locust Lawn Farm and Terwilliger House
Open by appointment for groups of 10 or more.
Please call 845.454.4500 x 211 or email k.snodgrass@lgny.org for more information.
For special event offerings, please visit our Calendar of Events Visitor Center & Mansion closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and Easter. Hours subject to change, call (845) 454-4500 for further information.
