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Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Catskills

New York

August 9—19, 1882 to

The Decorative Arts

And Variations on a Theme

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The Catskill Mountains, NY

In the mid-to-late 20th century, the Catskill Mountains was popular as a resort destination primarily for the elite of the East’s largest cities. It became known for continuing a Romantic Movement in art and literature and gave rise to the regional ‘Hudson River School’ of art.

The area was once named on an 1656 map of New Netherland as Landt van Kats Kill (‘cat creek’ in Dutch), perhaps explaining some of the confusion over the years about the name which has given us variant spellings such as Kaatskill and Kaaterskill, both of which are still used, for example in the regional magazine Kaatskill Life, and as the names of a mountain peak and a waterfall; indeed, in 1882, Wilde lectured at the Kaaterskill Hotel.

Wilde’s extended visit occurred at the heart of his tour of Summer resorts in the North-East, and he took in all the most exclusive and popular hotels. Oscar was accompanied by wealthy patrons from New York City including Sam Ward and Richard Doyly Carte, and was feted by local communities at the height of his celebrity. He was in The Catskills from August 9—19 with the exception of one day (August 16), when he traveled to Long Beach, RI to fulfill a previously arranged engagement, from where he returned immediately afterwards, and he visited again in early September when he had some free time.

Featured image:

Catskills at Sunset, 1882, Frederic Edwin Church (via Wikimedia)

Oscar Wilde’s Catskills Tour

—Verifications and Accommodation—

Unlike most tour stops which have their own pages, the Catskill lectures are listed here as a group.

This is not merely because they are geographically connected, but also because Wilde, as he traveled around the resorts and points of interest, was often in various places on the same day. Further, it is difficult to be definitive about Wilde’s whereabouts during the Summer months when his movements were less well recorded, and sometimes inaccurately. Typically, however, he resided at the hotels in which he lectured.

Ballston Spa

Gould Hall

Wednesday, August 9, 1882

Newspaper report

Troy Daily Times, August 10, 1882, 2

See last sentence of clipping.

Spoke to “a small but appreciative audience”

Ballston Journal (L&S)

Saratoga Springs

Congress Hall

Thursday, August 10, 1882

Newspaper report

Burlington Weekly Free Press, August 18, 1882

Congress Hall was a hotel located in Congress Park. Wilde lectured in the ballroom in a wing of the hotel across Spring Street.

Earlier in the day he was given a celebratory breakfast on Mount McGregor (orig. Palmertown Mtn) at the restaurant at Overlook Point.

Sharon Springs

The Pavilion Hotel

Friday, August 11, 1882

Local ephemera

Indications for this lecture comes from several latter-day reports of it, but the primary source relies on the The Sharon Historical Society’s 2011 program celebrating the event at which were displayed original advertising for the lecture (opposite) and Wilde’s signature in the hotel register.

Related:

Oscar Wilde in Sharon Springs Revisited

The Cobleskill Index, August 10, 1882, 3

Cooperstown

Bowne Hall

Saturday, August 12, 1882

Newspaper report

The Freeman's Journal, August 19, 1882, 3

Wilde lectured on the ‘opera house’ top floor of the building.

The lecture was originally scheduled for Friday 18, but it was moved to Saturday via announcements in the local press, perhaps indicating that the Sharon Springs lecture (above) was arranged at short notice.

Richfield Springs

Spring House

Monday, August 14, 1882

Local historical account

Annals of Richfield, Pierstine Printing House (Utica, NY), July, 1898

On August 1, 1882, Wilde was reported as saying he would go to Richfield Springs and would probably lecture there. Consequently, his advance traveling agent was reported as being in Richfield Springs on August 9, 1882. No newspaper account has been found of the lecture, but the event was recorded in the contemporary volume Annals of Richfield.

Kaaterskill

Hotel Kaaterskill

Tuesday, August 15, 1882

Newspaper article

The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 1882, 7

On August 10, 1882, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Wilde and his promoter, Richard D’Oyly Carte, had engaged rooms at the Hotel Kaaterskill for August 15. The lecture was advertised and the local press duly announced his arrival on the day.

See images here.

Impressions of America

The preview of Wilde’s lecture (opposite) suggest that he was understood to be preparing his “Impressions of America” and might allude to them in his lecture. This is the first known reference to Wilde’s future lecture of that name which is believed to have been given only in the UK and Ireland after he returned from America.

See here for a review of all Wilde’s lecture titles.

Kaaterskill Station

A Break From The Catskills

—Wilde Lectures at Long Beach—

On Wednesday August 16, Oscar Wilde left the Catskills to return to New York, and then took the Long Beach Railroad to lecture that evening at the Long Beach Hotel. He traveled there, and back that evening, in a party that included the actor Steel Mackaye and his wife.

See here for the Long Beach lecture on August 16, 1882.

Given the unusual one-day interruption to his Catskills itinerary, it is possible that the Long Beach lecture had been prearranged for a date that could not be changed.

Cornwall Heights, Mount Tremper, & Highmount

There are varying indications for three final lectures in the Catskills: newspaper itineraries, one newspaper confirmation, and the receipt accounts of Wilde’s touring manager. On the balance of current indications the presumption is that all three of these lectures took place.

Cornwall Heights [1]

Mountain House

Thursday, August 17, 1882

Newspaper article (top)

The Middletown Daily Argus, August 19, 1882, 3

The Summer Resorts clipping notes that he would be lecturing in the Grand ‘Dancing’ Pavilion of the Cornwall Mountain House [2].

It should be noted however that this lecture does not appear in the receipt accounts of Wilde’s touring manager—but, as it looks likely to have taken place, it may have been privately arranged.

.

The hotel was located at an elevation of 1200 feet on the Western slope of the famous Storm King Mountain [3]. The hotel vanished overnight 1963 in a strange and secretive act of forest conservation.

[1] At the time the hotel advertised its location as Cornwall Heights, but its P. O. address was Cornwall-on-Hudson.

[2] Not to be confused with the Catskill Mountain House.

[3] Painting opposite: “Storm King at Cornwall,” by Hudson River artist Thomas Benjamin Pope.

Mount Tremper

Tremper House

Friday, August 18, 1882

Highmount

Grand Hotel [at Monka Hill]

Saturday, August 19, 1882

Newspaper notice (indication only)

The New York World, August 19, 1882, 3

This contemporary newspaper notice of Wilde’s itinerary indicates that he would be lecturing at Tremper House and the grand Hotel. Receipts for both lectures can be found in the accounts of Wilde’s touring manager, so the events seem likely.

Related:

Grand Hotel: A Slide Talk of the Middletown Historical Society

John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026