A private Catskills estate for the meetings that matter. Multi-building lodging, gallery hall, commercial kitchen, 1,118 acres of privacy — and a history of extraordinary gathering.
Most private retreat venues are either beautiful or functional. Ashridge is both. The campus was scaled for institutional use over several decades — which means it arrives with a commercial kitchen, a commercial laundry room, a gallery hall for up to 250 (subject to layout, event type, permitting, insurance, and final approvals), institutional-grade power with generator tie-in (generator also available), and on-site overnight capacity across three residences.
The estate is booked to one party at a time. When you book Ashridge for a retreat, you have the full campus — mansion, farmhouse, guesthouse, gallery hall, grounds, and all kitchens — with no competing guests, no public access, and no scheduling conflict with other events.
The western Catskills provide the rest: genuine seclusion, four seasons of landscape, and a setting that has held some of the most significant gatherings in mid-century American history.
18 bedrooms in the mansion, 7 in the farmhouse (sleeps 18, subject to approvals), 4 in the guesthouse. Groups can be distributed across buildings or consolidated in one. Lower-level support rooms — with multiple bathrooms and a staff kitchen on the lower level — available for staff, subject to final approvals.
The attached gallery hall — clear-span, high ceiling, natural light — holds up to 250 for plenary sessions, dinners, and presentations (subject to layout, permitting, insurance, and final approvals). Direct connection to the mansion and back-of-house.
1,118 private acres. No neighboring properties in view. No public roads through the estate. No competing events. Gated, single-owner access control. The kind of privacy that makes frank conversation possible.
Commercial kitchen in the mansion, chef's kitchen in the farmhouse, home kitchen in the guesthouse, and staff kitchens on the mansion lower level and third floor. Full catering-in-house capability is possible, by arrangement and prior written approval.
The mansion's principal rooms — ballroom, drawing room, dining room, library — are fully restored and furnished. Eighteen-foot ceilings, granite fireplaces, Hunt Slonem's hand-applied color. Rooms that hold history, and that hold attention.
For extended retreats — three, five, or seven days — on-site commercial laundry is an operational necessity that most private estates lack. Ashridge has it.
In October 1946, two hundred women from fifty-four nations — among the most prominent women of their time — gathered at this house for ten days. Alice McLean convened the International Assembly of Women; Eleanor Roosevelt, her friend and wartime collaborator in the American Women's Voluntary Services, co-sponsored the assembly and closed it from the front steps of the mansion on October 20. Their findings went to the United Nations.
Four years earlier, in September 1940, McLean hosted a large community barbecue at her South Kortright estate — the McLean BBQ — inviting neighbors from across the county. Photographs of that day are held by the Delaware County Historical Association.
The house is open again for the meetings that matter.
Read October 1946 International Assembly of Women · Ashridge Farm
South Kortright, New York · October 20, 1946
Photograph by Bob Wyer · Delaware County Historical Association
We respond to all serious retreat and gathering inquiries. Include your group size, dates, purpose, and any specific needs — and we'll follow up with specifics on availability and rates.
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