Yaddo

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Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400-acre (1.6 km²) estate in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment". It offers residencies to artists working in any of the following media: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video.

The estate was purchased in 1881 by Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina. In 1900, upon the premature death of the Trasks' four children, Spencer Trask decided to turn the estate into an artist's retreat as a gift to his wife. He did this with the financial assistance of philanthropist George Foster Peabody. The success of Yaddo encouraged Spencer and Katrina to later donate land for a working women's retreat center as well known as Wiawaka Holiday House.

Yaddo has never disclosed a complete list of the more than 6,000 artists who have spent time there, but they include people like Truman Capote, Patricia Highsmith, Sylvia Plath, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Katherine Anne Porter.

Yaddo's gardens are modeled after the classical Italian gardens which the Trasks had visited in Europe. There are many statues and sculptures located within the estate, including a sundial which bears the inscription, "Hours fly, Flowers die, New days, New ways, Pass by, Love stays." While visitors are not admitted to the main mansion or artists' residencies, they may visit the gardens.