New York
August 9—19, 1882 to
The Decorative Arts
And Variations on a Theme
In the mid-to-late 20th century, the Catskill Mountains was popular as a resort destination primarily for the elite of the East’s largest cities. It became known for continuing a Romantic Movement in art and literature and gave rise to the regional ‘Hudson River School’ of art.
The area was once named on an 1656 map of New Netherland as Landt van Kats Kill (‘cat creek’ in Dutch), perhaps explaining some of the confusion over the years about the name which has given us variant spellings such as Kaatskill and Kaaterskill, both of which are still used, for example in the regional magazine Kaatskill Life, and as the names of a mountain peak and a waterfall; indeed, in 1882, Wilde lectured at the Kaaterskill Hotel.
Wilde’s extended visit occurred at the heart of his tour of Summer resorts in the North-East, and he took in all the most exclusive and popular hotels. Oscar was accompanied by wealthy patrons from New York City including Sam Ward and Richard Doyly Carte, and was feted by local communities at the height of his celebrity. He was in The Catskills from August 9—19 with the exception of one day (August 16), when he traveled to Long Beach, RI to fulfill a previously arranged engagement, from where he returned immediately afterwards, and he visited again in early September when he had some free time.
Featured image:
Catskills at Sunset, 1882, Frederic Edwin Church (via Wikimedia)
Unlike most tour stops which have their own pages, the Catskill lectures are listed here as a group.
This is not merely because they are geographically connected, but also because Wilde, as he traveled around the resorts and points of interest, was often in various places on the same day. Further, it is difficult to be definitive about Wilde’s whereabouts during the Summer months when his movements were less well recorded, and sometimes inaccurately. Typically, however, he resided at the hotels in which he lectured.
Gould Hall
Wednesday, August 9, 1882
Newspaper report
Troy Daily Times, August 10, 1882, 2
See last sentence of clipping.
Spoke to “a small but appreciative audience”
Ballston Journal (L&S)
Congress Hall
Thursday, August 10, 1882
Newspaper report
Burlington Weekly Free Press, August 18, 1882
Congress Hall was a hotel located in Congress Park. Wilde lectured in the ballroom in a wing of the hotel across Spring Street.
Earlier in the day he was given a celebratory breakfast on Mount McGregor (orig. Palmertown Mtn) at the restaurant at Overlook Point.
The Pavilion Hotel
Friday, August 11, 1882
Local ephemera
Indications for this lecture comes from several latter-day reports of it, but the primary source relies on the The Sharon Historical Society’s 2011 program celebrating the event at which were displayed original advertising for the lecture (opposite) and Wilde’s signature in the hotel register.
Related:
Oscar Wilde in Sharon Springs Revisited
The Cobleskill Index, August 10, 1882, 3
Bowne Hall
Saturday, August 12, 1882
Newspaper report
The Freeman's Journal, August 19, 1882, 3
Wilde lectured on the ‘opera house’ top floor of the building.
The lecture was originally scheduled for Friday 18, but it was moved to Saturday via announcements in the local press, perhaps indicating that the Sharon Springs lecture (above) was arranged at short notice.
Spring House
Monday, August 14, 1882
Local historical account
Annals of Richfield, Pierstine Printing House (Utica, NY), July, 1898
On August 1, 1882, Wilde was reported as saying he would go to Richfield Springs and would probably lecture there. Consequently, his advance traveling agent was reported as being in Richfield Springs on August 9, 1882. No newspaper account has been found of the lecture, but the event was recorded in the contemporary volume Annals of Richfield.
Hotel Kaaterskill
Tuesday, August 15, 1882
Newspaper article
The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 1882, 7
On August 10, 1882, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wilde and his promoter, Richard D’Oyly Carte, had engaged rooms at the Hotel Kaaterskill for August 15. The lecture was advertised and the local press duly announced his arrival on the day.
Impressions of America
The preview of Wilde’s lecture (opposite) suggest that he was understood to be preparing his “Impressions of America” and might allude to them in his lecture. This is the first known reference to Wilde’s future lecture of that name which is believed to have been given only in the UK and Ireland after he returned from America.
See here for a review of all Wilde’s lecture titles.
Kaaterskill Station
—Wilde Interrupts his Visit to Lecture at Long Beach—
On Wednesday August 16, Oscar Wilde left the Catskills to return to New York, and then took the Long Beach Railroad to lecture that evening at the Long Beach Hotel. He traveled there, and back that evening, in a party that included the actor Steel Mackaye and his wife.
Given the unusual one-day interruption to his Catskills itinerary, it seems likely that the Long Beach lecture was one of those prearranged when he toured the resorts of New York, Rhode Island and New Jersey in July.
See here for the Long Beach lecture on August 16, 1882.
Mountain House
Thursday, August 17, 1882
Newspaper article (top)
The Middletown Daily Argus, August 19, 1882, 3
It appears that, after his overnight trip to Long Beach, Wilde returned to the Catskills to take in three resorts to the South of the region.
First, he lectured in the Grand ‘Dancing’ Pavilion of the Cornwall Mountain House [2]. The hotel was located at an elevation of 1200 feet on the Western slope of the famous Storm King Mountain [3].
The hotel vanished overnight 1963 in a strange and secretive act of forest conservation.
[1] At the time the hotel advertised its location as Cornwall Heights, but its P. O. address was Cornwall-on-Hudson.
[2] Not to be confused with the Catskill Mountain House.
[3] Painting opposite: “Storm King at Cornwall,” by Hudson River artist Thomas Benjamin Pope.
Mount Tremper
Tremper House
Friday, August 18, 1882
Monka Hill
Grand Hotel
Saturday, August 19, 1882
Newspaper notice (indication only)
The New York World, August 19, 1882, 3
After lecturing at Cornwall (above) Wilde is reported to have lectured at the nearby Catskills resorts of Tremper House and the Grand Hotel.
While these lectures have been noted in various texts, the only contemporary reference currently available is shown opposite—and it is a schedule, not an actual report. The search for primary sources continues.
Related:
Grand Hotel: A Slide Talk of the Middletown Historical Society
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2023
