Don’t miss the interesting look at farm life in early America at the Brinckerhoff Homestead.

The Brinckerhoff Homestead at 68 North Kensington Drive

The Dining Room at the Brinckerhoff Homestead

The estate during the Annual Strawberry Festival

The Strawberry Shortcake at the Strawberry Festival

The estate in the Spring

The entrance to the estate

Returning for the Strawberry Festival 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.