The Strawberry Festival at the Brinckerhoff House in 2025:
The entrance to the Brinckerhoff Historical Homstead
The Brinckerhoff farm and estate. This used to cover hundreds of acres
The entrance to the property before the festival began
The Brinckerhoff House before the start of the Strawberry Festival in 2025
https://eastfishkillhistoricalsociety.org/
https://destinationdutchess.com/listingsv/the-brinckerhoff-house-east-fishkill-historical-society
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VistitingaMuseum.com:
https://visitingamuseum.com/tag/east-fishkill-historical-society/
When the festival began and before the Strawberry Shortcakes came out that afternoon, there were all sorts of activities and docent led tours. The first one that I went to was the 1820 Schoolhouse.
The historic sign for the 1820 One Room Schoolhouse of Upper Hopewell
The entrance to the schoolhouse
Even though the schoolhouse is from the early part of the 1800’s, it is amazing how it still relates to classrooms of today. I am still convinced it is the connection that students have with their teachers establishes the fundamentals of a good education and learning.
The schoolhouse from the back of the building
The inside of the classroom has not changed in two hundred years
The schoolhouse classroom is similar to today
I will be quite honest in saying that outside the potbelly stove, the classroom here is pretty much the same as the lecture halls that I see at our college campus.
Games and books of the past are similar to those of today
The items of the classroom of the 1800’s. I am not too sure the use of the Apple press but the children may have had chores to do outside the classroom.
A discipline system that should be brought back
After the tour and talk at the schoolhouse and a talk with other educators on the status of the modern classroom (we all had a lot to say on this), I went over to tour the barn.
The Van Wyck Barn
The historic sign of the mid-1800’s barn
The historic marker of the 1845 barn
The actor who was working at the barn told us about wood making and about saws and how to maintain them for work on the farm.
Next to the barn, there was a small blacksmith building where the volunteer was demonstrating items that would have to been made or maintained to keep work on the farm going. Never a dull moment on the farm.
Keeping the fires going and a certain amount of heat is needed to fix these items and create the objects needed on the farm.
The objects and items made at the blacksmith
I know that these tours may seem hokey to some but the volunteers who were at both the barn and the blacksmith were really interesting in their demonstrations. There was a lot of time, talent and creativity needed to keep these aspects of the farm in working conditions.
The rains had really made the grounds lush and all the flowers and trees were in full bloom. The gardens were really well maintained and it was really pretty to walk arounds the grounds of the house.
The gardens by the schoolhouse
In the little pen by the Ice House, they set up a small petting zoo with little goats who looked terrified of us. If we had something to feed them, trust me they would have been less shy.
These little lambs were so cute
I was trying to wave them down but they huddled together
Walking around the grounds
The Icehouse was closed that day
The crowds were starting to get bigger around 1:30pm because that was when the Strawberry Shortcakes were being served.
Since they were a little behind as the high school students were inside preparing the Strawberry Shortcakes, I decided to tour the Brinckerhoff House again. They had a Butter Making class going on in the old kitchen section of the home and there were early American displays in all the cases. All the first floor rooms were open and I got a chance to see some of the new artifact donations.
There were all sorts of displays of clothing, furnishings and assorted dish ware on display in the Living Room and Dining Room.
Early American display of women’s clothing
Early American display of Men’s clothing
The Dining Room on the first floor was all set for tea
The Dining Room led to the bedrooms and the old kitchen
The old Main Bedroom on the first floor
Some the artifacts in the second floor bedroom
Some of the paperwork and artifacts in the main foyer
As I exited the house, I passed the door to the roof cellar. I did not think they would put this on the tour. Only the first floor of the house is open to the public.
The door to the root cellar
I took a tour around the grounds and passed the old outhouse
As soon as I finished the tour of the house and grounds the first trays of Strawberry Shortcakes started to come out and I never saw such a mad dash to get something.
The tent set up to sit and relax and eat
As I went to reach for a Strawberry Shortcakes on one of trays. I swear this woman grabbed two off the tray and practically barreled into me. I know they looked good but I could not believe the way some people behave. These were plenty of trays coming outside.
After I avoided the collusion, I was able to get one of the shortcakes off the tray and sit down. The Historical Society had plenty of seating under the tent and what was nice was they had ice cold lemonade as well. It made the perfect afternoon snack and the reason why everyone was here. When I had taken the initial tour of the property three years earlier, the tour guide told me that they went through 600 of these. I could believe it.
The Strawberry Shortcake with homemade whipped cream
I hate to say this but I waited almost four years to finally try this shortcake and admittingly it was well worth the wait.
The strawberries were so juicy and fresh. I was not sure if they were from a local farm but by the sweetness and juiciness these were not imported.
Yum!
While we were eating the entertainment began. They had a wonderful guitarist playing on the patio and we could hear him down at the tent further away on the lawn.
The guitarist was wonderful. He played all sorts of songs from the 1960’s and 70’s.
Here is a short clip of the concert on the lawn
After relaxing and enjoying the shortcake, I saw that they were starting up the hayrides around the property and the first riders were leaving. I thought it looked like fun.
The first group of riders leaving
I got on the second ride and there was plenty of room on the flatbed. Even though it was a short ride, it was a lot of fun. The sun peeked out for a bit and it made the ride pleasurable.
Us passing the woods at the start of the trip
The start of our journey around the grounds of the Brinckerhoff house.
The start of the journey
The end of the journey
As I exited the flatbed, there was a pretty long line to get on the ride. As simple as this ride was it was so relaxing to just drive around the neighborhood and see the beauty of the house grounds. The volunteers do such a wonderful job of maintaining the house and gardens.
By 3:00pm the crowds had gotten larger and more trays of shortcakes were being devoured under the tent and people were having such a wonderful time. It was almost like a 1970’s event with families spending time together and I did not see one person playing with a cell phone in sight.
Since there was only an hour left of the event, I decided to beat the crowds out of there and explore historic Fishkill. There are a lot of great things to see in town.
The Reformed Dutch Church and its historic cemetery
https://www.facebook.com/FirstReformedChurchofFishkill/
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
The historic cemetery is filled with loved ones passed with names like Brinckerhoff, Van Wyck, Hopper and other known names from the region.
Downtown Fishkill, NY
Downtown Fishkill, NY City Hall
After walking Downtown Fishkill and noting some of the restaurants I would like to visit in the future, I headed to a pizzeria that I enjoyed on my last trip up and stopped at Antonella’s Pizzeria at 738 US 9 for dinner. I ordered one of their Stromboli’s with a red sauce and it was the perfect dinner.
Antonella’s Pizzeria and Restaurant at 738 US 9
https://www.antonellasrestaurant.com/
My review on TripAdvisor:
The inside of Antonella’s Pizzeria
My dinner, a Stromboli with Italian meats and a Coke
The Stromboli here are excellent and are filled with three different types of meat and two cheeses
Yum!
It really was a wonderful and relaxing afternoon. It was like I was put back into a Time Machine pre-cellphones and families just talked and enjoyed each other’s company. I think that the Historical Society did an excellent job on the event and I look forward to it again next year.
The Strawberry Festival is the first weekend in June as the strawberries start coming in. It’s an enjoyable afternoon.
The Strawberry Festival at the Brinkerhoff House in 2026:
The East Fishkill Historical Society sign at the Brinkerhoff House
I love any reason to visit the Hudson River Valley at any season but last year I enjoyed attending the Strawberry Festival at the Brinkerhoff House that I made note to come back this year. While the petting zoo and the tractor rides around the property were not part of the festival this year, the warm weather and the historical demonstrations around the house were a lot of fun and very interesting to listen to from the docents. I could not wait for the Strawberry Shortcakes which I could still taste from last year. The strawberries from this region are so sweet and juicy.
The entrance of the Strawberry Festival in 2026
The antique car display at the entrance to the festival
The first thing I did when I arrived was tour the outer buildings before the crowds started to arrive and I had plenty of time to take pictures. The first building I visited on the property was the old Ice House.
The Rapalye Ice House
The historic sign
What is interesting about the Ice House display is it tells the story of the roll that the Hudson River Valley had in the production of ice from the river, the tools to cut it out and how it was transported down to New York City for ice boxes before refrigeration.
The inside of the ice house
The production of the ice industry in the Hudson River Valley
I then toured the small school house next to it. Even though the one room school house was circa 1800’s, it is amazing how little has changed since then. The desks are board still remain in place as today.
The One Room Schoolhouse
The front of the one room school house
The grounds the day of the Strawberry Festival
The blacksmith shop
I then toured the Blacksmith Shop, where they were showing an ironworks demonstration and then the barn where demonstrating farm equipment.
The Van Wyck barn where the demonstration took place
The farm equipment
The wood work and tanning demonstration
Then I toured the grounds. The petting zoo they had last year they didn’t repeat this year so there were no small goats and calf’s to pet.
The gardens and small pen where the petting zoo was the year before
It was going to be a while before they would be handing out the Strawberry Shortcakes so I listened to the singer who was performing on the porch and then toured the house.
The guitarist performed classic 1970’s and 80’s songs from the porch
I then toured the Brinkerhoff House, which had been built in three stages, the original late 1700’s house with the full fire place, then the Victorian addition which was the main part of the house and then the Summer kitchen where the performer was playing.
The Brinkerhoff House in the early Spring
The kitchen and oven in the original part of the house
Everything supplied from the farm
The fireplace and oven, which was part of the original house used for cooking and heating the house
The formal dining room which was part of the Victorian edition
The formal dining room set for Afternoon Tea and Hot Chocolate
The back bedroom
The sewing and storage area of the back bedroom
The main hall of the house held many of the house’s artifacts including items from the era, and objects related to the house.
The Revolutionary era artifacts on display for the ‘250th Anniversary’.
As I exited the house from the inside tour, I passed the vegetable garden where the volunteers were growing all sorts of
The Vegetable garden
The Herb Garden on the other side of the house
After my tour of the house and grounds and the outer buildings, it was time to join the other visitors for some Strawberry Shortcake. The tents started to fill up with guests enjoying their shortcakes and lemonade.
Heading down to the tent for dessert
The view of the tents and the barn on the Brinkerhoff property
I finally got to sit down and enjoy a Strawberry Shortcake with other visitors. The strawberries were at the peak of the season and were so juicy.
The Strawberry Shortcake
Enjoying dessert with some lemonade
Yum!
While I was talking to other visitors about the festival and the historic significance of the house, I did not realize that three hours had passed since I arrived and it was almost 4:00pm.
I finished chatting with my group and took one tour of the grounds before I left. What a wonderful festival the East Fishkill Historical holds every year . It really is the perfect family event Society holds every year and was a lot of fun. Check out their website in early June.
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