At Catwalk, visitors will discover gracious lawns shaded by majestic trees during a guided stroll through the estate’s carefully cultivated landscape. The event will include a reading, an informal writing workshop, and refreshments.

A multiple-term resident at Catwalk, Jean Zimmerman explores the estate’s natural history in her forthcoming memoir, Of Heartwood and Woundwood: An Unlikely Arborist’s Path to Courage and Joy (Broadleaf, Fall 2026). Over a decades-long career, Zimmerman has authored critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction and, as a Certified Arborist, has advised municipalities on preserving the health and longevity of their trees.

Due to the loss of her vocal abilities as a result of ALS, Jean will present the Summertime Walk using AI voice-clone technology.

Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 2pm Rain Date: Sunday, June 28, at 2pm

Reserve your spot, email Jean Zimmerman below:

Jean Zimmerman’s books have explored the history and culture of the Hudson Valley. Her acclaimed The Women of the House: How a Colonial She Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty (2006, Harcourt) is the primary source about the Philipse family, who settled in Yonkers in the 1600s and went on to found a 57,000-acre estate encompassing present day Westchester County. Her duel biography Love, Fiercely, A Gilded Age Love Story profiles a pair of well-to-do philanthropists, one of whom grew up at lavish “Locust Wood” the estate of billionaire 19th-century merchant Robert Bowne Minturn in Hastings-on-Hudson, Zimmerman’s home town.