Historic Lyndhurst Ready for 'Re-imaging'

After a year-long search, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is close to hiring a Director of Business Advancement for Lyndhurst. Interim Director Rena Zurofsky revealed on Oct. 3 that the number of candidates has been whittled down and a finalist will be selected in about one month.

Meanwhile she is busy wearing a witch hat for their rich roster of seasonal events happening now.

The press preview of the new Lyndhurst After Dark tours was Wednesday so check back later for a great photo gallery from the night, care of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery's Jim Logan.

Lyndhurst hasn't yet booked big events at this time for 2013, Zurofsky said, other than its two long-running annual crafts shows, Spring Crafts at Lyndhurst on May 3-5 and Fall Crafts at Lyndhurst on Sept. 20-22. One-hour guided tours of the mansion will resume for 2013 on May 1 following their winter break.

In September of 2011, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which owns and manages the Tarrytown estate, laid off the director, two education curators, the communications and internal events manager and the office manager, and eliminated their positions.

Time to assess the future of Lyndhurst would be needed, Germonique Ulmer, Senior Director of Public Affairs at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said last October. She assured that, contrary to rumors, Lyndhurst would neither be sold or subdivided into parcels for sale.

The top priority for the new director will be managing the process of the “re-imaging” of Lyndhurst, Ulmer said.

“Public reaction for the remaining 2012 events including Lyndhurst After Dark (a night-time, electric, flickering candle-lit event which debuts on Oct. 4) will help in planning the 2013 events,” Zurofsky pointed out.

For Lyndhurst After Dark, she said that a vampire theme was chosen rather than one involving ghosts, the creatures normally thought to haunt Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. The choice was influenced by Lyndhurst’s use in the past as a set for several film and television vampire/horror productions.

Because of its splendid gothic revival architecture, the mansion was chosen as the home of vampire Barnabas Collins in two movies, the 1970 film House of Dark Shadows and the 1971 movie Night of Dark Shadows. It was also picked for the filming of a number of television and movie productions involving vampires, and appeared as the ancestral home of Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula and as a witch's castle in a Disney Channel episode.

Applications for exhibiting at the two 2013 crafts shows are now being accepted, said Laurel Kandel, Assistant Director at show management firm Artrider Productions. The application deadline for both shows is January 7, 2013 (go to www.artrider.com for a form). Participation is limited to artists who hand craft their work in North America.

Anyone interested in working at the craft shows can send an e-mail to crafts@artrider.com.

Visitors attending Lyndhurst After Dark are encouraged to come in costume. No guided tours are conducted. Live piano music is performed by Kirk Ehrenreich.

Lyndhurst After Dark is scheduled on the following dates in October, 4-7, 11-14, 18-21, 25-31. Admission is by timed entry stamped on each ticket. Bringing of large bags, backpacks or taking photographs is not permitted.

Lyndhurst was designed in 1838 by renown architect Alexander Jackson Davis; it served as the home of former New York City mayor William Paulding, businessman George Merritt and railroad baron Jay Gould.

Lyndhurst is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is located at 635 South Broadway, Tarrytown, 914-631-4481.

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