September ushered in the first sharp turn of autumn across the Hudson Highlands. A cool, northern dry spell had cleared the summer moisture from the valley, crisping the edges of the wild grapevines along the granite retaining walls. Below the estate’s timber terraces, the Hudson stretched in a wide, glassy ribbon of dark steel under an intense blue sky.
At the lower research court of Stony Point, the second phase of the archive expansion was formally taking shape. Rather than expanding further underground, the team had constructed a stone-and-glass peristyle along the eastern cliffside—a open-air study walkway designed specifically for visiting senior scholars of the global fellowship network.
I walked through the unfinished gallery shortly before ten in the morning, wearing a tailored
