Bard College is a private liberal arts college in the hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson, in the town of Red Hook, in New York State. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.

Samuel Bard was an American physician who founded the first medical school in New York City and the second medical school in the United States at King's College, now known as Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He was a personal physician to George Washington. His description of the disease diphtheria was instrumental in formulating treatment for that condition.