Part two of our miniseries on the pleasures of Summerweek, courtesy of Danielle Fontaine, camp administrator. This time, she talks about the programs at Sunnyside and Van Cortlandt Manor. Take it away Danielle!

***You're on the lavish lawns of Sunnyside, the home of famous writer Washington Irving (the guy who wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and a lot of other great stories). Ladies in hoop skirts and gents in top hats welcome you to the cottage where the story was written. Just like "Uncle Wash," you'll feel your creative juices flow on the hills of Sunnyside, over looking the Hudson River.

Walk away from the TV - we're creating and producing our own shadow puppet shows! Quill pens replace IMs! Leave your iPod at home and make your own kite, design a fantasy garden, listen to stories and sketch on the lawns surrounding the cottage, crank ice cream, and spend some time in the coolest amusement park ever - your imagination! Sunnyside's camp runs from July 14 until July 18. If you're up to some good old fashioned dirty work set your sites on the year 1800 and...

Meet me in the clay pits at Van Cortlandt Manor where you'll be making bricks that will help the country rebuild after the Revolutionary War. We have a lot of work to do on the shores of the Croton River: besides brick-making, there's tin punching, blacksmithing, and candle making. You'll learn a lot of necessary skills like making medicine out of stuff from the garden, cooking lunch on an open hearth (yum!), how to spin yarn and weave cloth to make clothes and quilts, and (whew!) haul water and go fishing.

Characters step out of the history books and tell about what's happening in the New Nation. Hey, there's fun to be had too - you'll play (and make your own) games like the Van Cortlandt children did. This camp takes place July 21-25.***

Ready to sign up or at least get sign up info? Click here.

Got a question for Danielle? E-mail her. 

HVBlogger loved Freakonomics, as apparently do many others. The book that turns the dismal science on its head remains a best-seller some 18 months after its release.

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner blogs on NYTimes.com. Yesterday he wrote about the troubles the Mark Twain house in Hartford, Conn., is experiencing. (Sad and scary, indeed). While doing so, he mentions Washington Irving's Sunnyside, stating:

I also love visiting the old homes of interesting people, like Washington Irving. There's nothing like being able to literally walk in the footsteps of someone else from long ago - seeing where they worked, slept, ate, and maybe cheated at cards.

We could not agree more.

Sunday was a sunny day at Sunnyside, made all the more so by the dozen artists scattered throughout the grounds creating new works of art on site as part of Artists-on-the-Hudson.

Below, you can see artist Vern Ford of Blaze fame has a cult following wherever he goes. At left, Jan Aiello of Croton captures Washington Irving's homestead in all its romantic glory.

Special thanks to Danielle Fontaine for the pics.

Brian Jay Jones is NOT the dead Rolling Stone, but he is the author of the most recent bio of Washington Irving, called "An American Original."

Besides being a total Irving fanatic and pop culture junkie, Brian is an all around cool guy who makes his daily bread as a policy wonk in Maryland.

He spoke at Irving's homestead of Sunnyside last fall, captivating the crowd with his tales of Irving's exploits. His book takes a different, more personality-based approach than the first, also excellent, Irving bio published in 2007, "The Original Knickerbocker" by the historian Andrew Burstein, who provides an in-depth analysis of Irving as an American icon.

We enjoy Brian's Literary Conceits blog, particularly his recent four-part series covering an NYC trip, and thought you might too.

Frequent visitors to Historic Hudson Valley sites know the organization's museums of history are pretty cool, pretty historic, pretty educational, and just plain pretty, but there's a whole world out there who haven't visited yet. And while it's one thing for the folks at HHV to tout the value of a visit, it's quite another entirely to get a nod (several, in fact) from the style arbiters at Westchester Magazine.

The cover story of Westchester Mag's May issue, currently on newsstands, is entitled "56 Things every Westchesterite should do (at Least) Once." HVBlogger is proud to report that HHV stuff accounts for numbers 2, 6, 8, and 19 of those things. Not bad!

Number 2: "Read Washington Irving's Short Story"

Calling it "Westchester County's very own ghost story," writer Nancy L. Claus notes The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a must read - simply watching Johnny Depp's movie doesn't cut it. Bonus points, she says, if you visit Sunnyside, the Historic Hudson Valley homestead of Washington Irving. Indeed!

Number 6: "Visit the Rockefeller Home"

Ms. Claus calls Kykuit "spectacular indoors and out." With its six-story stone mansion, modern art and sculpture, and elaborate terraced gardens, a visit to Kykuit can make you feel pretty, well, Rockefeller-like. "Even if your great granddaddy didn't start Standard Oil, you can still experience a taste of the über-good life by visiting Kykuit," says Ms. Claus. Conveniently, Kykuit opens for the season on Saturday. More conveniently, you can book a timed tour in advance online.

Number 8: "Admire Chagall Windows (and a Matisse, too!)"

Being the HVBlogger, I tend to find myself telling people about the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. And I find myself enjoying it when they are delightfully surprised to hear it contains stained glass windows by modern masters Henry Matisse and Marc Chagall. Westchester Mag was duly impressed, hence the Number 8 spot.

Number 19: "Visit the Great Pumpkin(s)"

BlazeBlogger is a little miffed this 4,000-pumpkin extravaganza wasn't Number 1 (though it is featured in the cover photo montage, as you can see), but he's a bit singular in his focus. He should take some comfort in Ms. Claus' high praise, indeed, for The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. "(M)an oh man, you're in for a treat this October...Wind your way along candlelit paths, while spooky music plays, and oooh and aaah over the cemetery of ghosts, the patch depicting dead musicians, even a replica of our very own Headless Horseman. Grab a kid (or your inner child, if you don't have one) and get crackin'! Reservations are necessary - and tickets sell out fast." She's not kidding about that. Blaze is an October thang, but watch this space for ticket info this summer.