Perhaps because taxes are so high in the town of Cornwall and its village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, it’s not that easy to find luxury real real estate here. But this one caught our eye. Part of the draw, as usual, is the guest house, but this four-bed, three-bath house is set on 13 acres, yet close to town, which ain’t bad, either. It was built in 1971, and perhaps that wall-to-wall carpeting is a relic from that time. But a couple of updates and you’d have quite an estate. Taxes, not surprisingly, are very high: $13,748. Property Shark has the last assessment at $540,000, FYI.

10 Wood Pond Road, Cornwall (McCaffrey) GMAP
More photos on the jump…

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We like this cool contemporary house at 10 Starwood Lane with the double decks and the giant wall-to-wall windows. But we also love that it includes a lovely in-ground pool surrounded by greenery and basketball/tennis court. Perhaps the potential is here to invent a new game? Tennisball? Basket-raquet?

The house is located at the end of a quiet residential street, separated from the nearest residence by lots of trees. It’s about five miles from the village of Cornwall-on-Hudson and the Hudson River, has a great view of the mountains, and yet still close to the Thruway. And if you’re interested in spoiling a good walk (thanks, Mark Twain!), Storm King Golf Course is just a few miles northeast.

The listing makes the lofty claim that although there are ducts for air conditioning, the house does not need A/C as it sits in the cool shade of a mountain. If that’s indeed true, the potential for energy savings are great, but we do wonder what that means for heating it in the winter-time. Might end up being a wash, savings-wise.

Inside, it has cathedral ceilings and a little second floor balcony off of the master bedroom looking out onto first floor living room. Master bedroom also includes a private outdoor balcony. There’s a fire place in the first floor dining room and a spacious kitchen, but the crown jewel of this house is the bright main room.

View from the second floor balcony...

...and the balcony itself.

We’ve seen a few houses like this in the Cornwall area, where care and consideration was taken in bringing the stunning outside surroundings to the inside. That’s the way it should be with these mountain retreat properties: One should feel like they’re on vacation while sitting one’s living room. It just makes life more pleasant.

10 Starwood Lane, Cornwall (Vanessa Saunders) GMAP
Asking Price: $375,000
Beds: 4
Baths: 2 full, 1 partial
Square Feet: 2076
Year Built: Unknown
Land: 1.3 acres
Taxes: Unknown
Features: Pool, basketball/tennis court, fireplace, double decks

Storm King Art Center

Spring is right around the corner. Or, it’s here already, depending on how you look at things. We haven’t had much snow, and the temperatures have been downright balmy most of the time. Nonetheless, many seasonal attractions in the Catskills and Hudson Valley won’t be open until April. So we’ve decided to include two Upstater Destinations this week: Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, which you can enjoy now, and Storm King Art Center, which you can enjoy in the spring.

Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, whose mission is to ”create responsible caretakers of our environment,” has two locations. The Outdoor Discovery Center is located in Cornwall, and it focuses on bringing visitors outside to observe the wonders of nature surrounding them. The Center’s programs usually start at 10am, and they have programs scheduled for the winter months. Learn about the Awesome Opposum on February 25th. Or, sign up for the Maple Sugar tours at the Center throughout the month of March, which is prime maple sugaring season. The tour place through the Center’s sugar bush forest, and tours end at the farmhouse for a maple sugar taste test. Dress appropriately. The grounds can be muddy in March. But once winter wanes and April rolls around, the salamanders will be out in full force. You can learn about them and then go in search of them during the Center’s Weekend Nature Program on April 1st.

George Potanovic, Jr.

The museum’s Wildlife Discovery Center is in Cornwall-on-Hudson, and it is the home of the Meet the Animals series, which takes place Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm year-round. There are also a variety of other winter weekend learning programs. Check the website for dates and times. The Quest Hiking Trails are a great way to explore the indigenous flora and fauna of upstate New York, but the trails don’t open until April. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other opportunities at both the Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson locations to get outside before spring rolls around.

George Potanovic, Jr.

Purchasing a membership to the Hudson Highlands Museum is a nice way to save on admission and support a great organization,  but even if you’re not a member (membership gets you in free to a lot of events), admission prices are affordable. Most programs and activities are $5 for adults, $3 for children.

If you’ve never been to the Storm King Art Center, you’re in for a treat. Flanked by picturesque Storm King and Shunnemunk Mountains, the Art Center is a stunning 500-acre outdoor sculpture park, containing around 100 pieces from a multitude of acclaimed artists.

Storm King Art Center

This year marks Storm King’s 50th anniversary, and the art center’s5+5: New Perspectives exhibition celebrates this milestone with ten artists’ sculptures new to Storm King. So even if you’ve experienced Storm King before but haven’t been  in a while, it’s worth the trip back to see the new additions to the park. Additionally, the park is exhibiting The View From Here, which illuminates the rich history and evolution of Storm King through photographs, maps, archival documents and other media. The exhibition also touches on the conservation techniques of artwork that is constantly exposed to the elements, something many of us take for granted while observing these amazing pieces.

Storm King Art Center

Storm King Art Center is currently closed for the season but will reopen on April 4th. Admission is a bit steep: $12 adults and $8 for kids grades K-12 and free admission for children under 5. Your best bet for seeing the park on the cheap is to go on the last weekends in June, July and August, when the art center offers pay-what-you-wish admission for all visitors. Bikes are available for rent at Storm King for $10 an hour (2 hour minimum), or $40 for the day. Just don’t try to bring your own bikes; they won’t let you ride them through the park.

This was the sentence in the listing that sold us: “Cookbook editor’s professional kitchen is centrally located in classic old style home.” We believe it, too. The kitchen indeed looks inviting and a major selling point for this house. Those gleaming granite countertops are just begging to have delicious food prepared on them while guests and family hang out at the kitchen bar. This is a home in which to entertain.

This house is kind of a steal by Cornwall terms. It’s big enough on the inside (almost 1,900 square feet), and there’s a .3-acre yard — tiny, but usable. It’s one block from the center of Cornwall, on Clinton Street, which is a well-populated residential area and close to a variety of local businesses, including a day school, a gym and a pharmacy. Riverlight Park and the public library are nearby, too.

We love the octagonal porch; it’s like an attached gazebo, and the built in book-shelves. It’s surprising this home hasn’t been snatched up yet, but we suspect it won’t be on the market for much longer for folks looking for a full-time residence, in-town. The taxes might be prohibitively high for some, but that’s to be expected in Cornwall.

Classic Home in Cornwall

27 Clinton Street, Cornwall (Ellen M. Kelly) GMAP
Asking Price: $285,000
Beds: 3
Baths: 1 full, 1 partial
Square Feet: 1,868
Year Built: 1887
Land: .3 acres
Taxes: $7786
Features: Professional kitchen 

Cornwall has a reputation of being too pricey for most of us, so we made it our goal this week to come up with at least two properties under $300,000 that don’t need work. We were pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t quite as difficult an endeavor as we thought it would be. Here’s one on an acre of land with a wooded backyard and a stream.

The house was built in 1893, and even though it’s located on a an acre of land, it’s still close to Main Street Cornwall. The price was reduced $10,000 on January 19.

The hardwood floors are beautiful and rough-hewn, and we love the cast-iron-looking details on the kitchen cabinets. The stained glass window on the front door is a nice touch, as are the built-in shelves in the living room and entryway.

It’s hard to resist an historic home like this one, especially one that’s cozy, on plenty of land, and priced to sell. Hasbrouk Avenue is located in a nice neighborhood, too.

But there’s always a catch, isn’t there? Just when we were starting to get comfortable with the idea that Cornwall is perhaps not the well-monied enclave we thought it was, we were reminded once again about one thing (cue the scary music): TAXES. Oh, the cost of living, she is high in Cornwall. This property clocks in at $8,250. We’ve seen much higher, of course, but that’s high enough to make an impact on your monthly nut.

30 Hasbrouck Avenue, Cornwall (RE/MAX Benchmark Realty Group) GMAP
Asking Price: $279,000
Beds: 4
Baths: 2
Square Feet: 1,628
Year Built: 1893
Land: 1.1 acres
Taxes: $8,250
Features: Plank floors, attic could be turned into additional living space