Kykuit Garden

The Kykuit garden was begun by the oil billionnaire John D. Rockefeller and served as a Rockefeller family summer retreat from 1913 to 1991. Kykuit (pronounced 'cake-8') means 'lookout' in Dutch and it has fine views over the magnificent scenery of the Hudson Valley. Rockefeller commissioned Olmsted Brothers for the design but was not happy with their work and began laying out walks and doing his own planting. He then asked the landscape architect William Welles Bosworth designed formal gardens near the house. Today, the garden is a fine American example of the Mixed Style. There are terraces, a semicircular rose garden, fountains, the Temple of Aphrodite and a notable collection of modern sculpture (including works by Henry Moore and Pable Picasso). There is a Morning Garden, a Grand Staircase, a Japanese Garden, an Italian Garden, a Temple of Aphrodite, an Italian loggia, and a semicircular rose garden.