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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2002 The birth of American tourism : New York, the Hudson Valley, and American culture, 1790-1835. Richard H. Gassan University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Gassan, Richard H., "The birth of American tourism : New York, the Hudson Valley, and American culture, 1790-1835." (2002). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1291. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1291 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN TOURISM: NEW YORK, THE HUDSON VALLEY, AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1790-1835 A Dissertation Presented by RICHARD H. GASSAN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2002 History © Copyright by Richard H. Gassan 2002 All Rights Reserved THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN TOURISM: NEW YORK, THE HUDSON VALLEY, AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1790-1835 A Dissertation Presented by RICHARD H. GASSAN Approved as to style and content by: Stephen W. Nissenbaum, Chair Gerald M. McFarland, Member Margar lint. Member Richard W. Wilkie, Member David H. Glassberg, Departnfient Head Department of History ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Of course, first on this list are the members of my committee who have suffered through the many drafts of this text. Particular thanks go to the chair. Dr. Stephen Nissenbaum, whose insights distinctly shaped this work. A special appreciation goes to Dr. Gerald McFarland and the stalwart Dorothy McFarland, lovers of good writing who nonetheless read those early drafts. Drs. Margaret Hunt and Richard Wilkie also deserve enormous thanks. I hope that the many people who have supported me over these years know how important they have been not only in this endeavor but in my life. They include my mother and brother, Martha Oehler and Larry Gassan, Sabine Dietrich (who I owe more than I can pay), and Ann Somerhousen, who worked her way through an all-too-raw version of those first three chapters. Michelle Decker and Zak's generosity meant that I did not have to pay for hotels in Baltimore; more importantly, Zak helped me rediscover the joy of brick. This group of supportive people includes my colleagues at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (in alphabetical order): Bree Beal, Jane Berger, Brian Bixby, Patrick Grim, Allison Dunn, Lydia Henry, John Lund, Joe Gabriel, Julie Gallagher, Rick Goulet, Tom Holme, Lincoln Lounsbury, Ken Miller, Jill Mudgett, Tom Rushford, Christoph Strobel, Julia Sandy-Bailey, Christina Sapp, Susannah Wheelwright, and Bethany (Zecher) Sutton. Laura and Clint Donaldson have been important supports and steady friends. Also at UMass- iv Amherst, some of the most encouraging faculty I have ever encountered include Aviva Ben-Ur, Ron Story, Manisha Sinha, and Mary Wilson. And I have not forgotten those who helped and supported me in the past. They include Darcy Gingerich, Rosemary Firmearty, Larry King, Wenda Williamson, and those from the Ohio University Department of Geography, especially Huberhis (Hugh) Bloemer, Nancy Bain, and, of course, the great Hugh Wilhehn. I would also like to acknowledge an inspiration in the art of historical writing: the works of Kathy Peiss. Although her books are not directly related to the subject of this study, her style, ability to subtly incorporate theory without a leaden air, and her overall clarity of writing is impressive. These include, in particular. Cheap Amusements (1986) and Hope in a Jar (1998). Finally, to Bob Lockhart and Martin Johnson: thanks for suggesting that I think big(ger). V ABSTRACT THE BIRTH OF AMERICAN TOURISM: NEW YORK, THE HUDSON VALLEY, AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1790-1835 MAY, 2002 RICHARD H. GASSAN, B.A., OHIO UNIVERSITY M.A., OHIO UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Stephen W. Nissenbaum This study describes a moment when tourism was created in America, and how, in the decades after, it was discovered by a broad swath of American society. Begirming as an infrastructure created for the recreation of wealthy, the tourist world created in the Hudson Valley became increasingly more accessible and visible in the years cifter 1790, most particularly after 1817. This new visibility heavily influenced artists such as Thomas Cole and writers like James Fenimore Cooper, who created for the tourist market. By the late 1820s, these images combined with the rising prosperity of the period and the falling cost of travel spurred thousands of Americans to travel to these storied sites. By 1830, all classes of Americans had became exposed to tourists and tourism. vi All this in happened the context of the changing society of American cities, especially New York. There, rapid growth led to increasing social disorder. A search by the gentry for safe enclaves resulted in the tourist sites, but the very infrastructure they created to facilitate their travels was later used by the very classes they had wanted to avoid. The large numbers new tourists from non-wealthy classes began to overload the traditional tourist sites, causing increasingly visible cultural tensions. By eighteen-thirty the Hudson Valley was being written of by the cultural avant-garde as being overexposed. A search for other tourist sites ensued. Exclusivity would be briefly found in the Wliite Mountains of New Hampshire, but others in the gentry sought longer-term solutions including private clubs, summer homes, and semi-private resorts such as Newport. Places such as Saratoga, too, would find ways to reinvent themselves, especially in the light of the decline of other formerly exclusive sites like the nearby Ballston Spa. This study uses a large body of cultural evidence supported by dozens of diaries and letters to demonstrate that by eighteen-thirty the idea of tourism had penetrated deep into American culture, affecting art, literature and commerce. Although it would take another generation before tourism became a truly mass activity, by 1830 the basis of American tourism had been set. vii CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE FIRST TOURISTS: BALLSTON SPA, 1790-1814 19 III. SARATOGA SPRINGS, NIAGARA FALLS, AND THE FASHIONABLE TOUR, 1816-1822 74 IV. WASHINGTON IRVING, JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, AND THOMAS COLE: TOURISM, ART AND LITERATURE IN THE EARLY 1820S 130 V. GUIDEBOOKS, LITERATURE, AND THE SPREAD OF TOURISM, 1825-1827 191 VI. TOO SUCCESSFUL, 1825-1835 237 Epilogue: The Search for Exclusivity 294 VIL CONCLUSION 298 APPENDIX: ESTIMATES OF THE NUMBERS OF TOURISTS AT SARATOGA SPRINGS, 1819-1830 304 BIBLIOGRAPHY 306 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION To begin with, this is the story of how tourism began in the United States. The emergence of tourism was a sudden and surprisingly rapid event: in 1790, it did not exist; by 1830 it was a flourishing industry. Tourism began at a crucial place, the Hudson River Valley. It became America's first tourist region through several historical accidents: its proximity to New York City, its remarkable scenery, and its closeness to some of America's most-sought destinations. By 1830, it connected the nation's fastest-growing, wealthiest city to the nation's largest and most fashionable resorts. It was the heart of an exclusive tourist route that was known as the "Fashionable Tour." The tourism that developed in the Hudson Valley marked a radical break with the past. In both England and America, tourism had always been an aristocratic luxury restricted to the very few who could afford the time and money to travel. ^ However, in the eighteen-teens, classes aside from the gentry of America's 1 For example, only 452 visitors were recorded visiting Newport, Rhode Island, one only Colonial-era resorts, from 1767 to 1775. Carl Bridenbaugh, "Colonial Newport as a Summer Resort," Rhode Island Historical Society Collections 26 (1933): 23. For examples of aristocratic non-travellers, see the private diary of Charles Carroll of CarroUton, 1792-1802, MS 209, plantation, Maryland Historical Society. Carroll rarely spent more than a week away from his slave owner, only took only and took no major trips. Francis Dallam, another Maryland land and Historical Society). two leisure trips from 1815 to 1833 (MS 1250, Dallam Papers, Maryland years spent in England Likewise, Henry D. Gilpin, who took his first tourist trip in 1825, despite Pennsylvania; he would not travel as at school and extraordinary famUy wealth in Delaware and Historical Society of Delaware). Another a tourist again until 1835 (Box 59, GUpin Family Papers, a Quaker businessman, took no vacations from 1813 to Philadelphia resident, I Fisher Leaming, Family Papers, Historical Society of 1833, despite a great deal of travelling (Leaming antebeUum era is quite small in Pennsylvania). The number of frequent travellers even into the 1 began to travel along the routes developed in the Hudson Valley and beyond. 2 A trickle at first, by 1830 they had flooded these formerly exclusive places. Their presence made Hudson Valley tourism unique in America.^ In this Mray, the presence of tourism signified large structural changes in American society. For example, there had been a tradition among the northern surviving collections compared to those who took one or two trips in their lifetime. Examples of frequent travellers include William Elliott, who took northern trips from his South Carolina home a number of times from 1806 to 1839 (Ms. Collection 1009, Elliott and Gonzalez Family Papers, Southern I listorical Collection). An analysis of a later period which is probably still relevant for this era is Jane Pease, "A Note on Patterns of Conspicuous Consumption Among Seaboard Planters, 1820-1860," Journal of Southern History 35, no.

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