Nice houses and a lighthouse.

  Hudson, New York
Monday, June 29, 2009

Hudson...on the Hudson River, named after Henry Hudson who in 1609 in his ship 'The Half Moon' sailed up the river in search of the North West Passage...
Some really interesting stuff here;
http://www.hudsonathenslighthouse.org/history.html

This city hadn't really been on our list of things to do here, having picked up a leaflet about it, we thought it was worth a look and what a find it turned out to be. We spent a great afternoon wandering around, enjoying the atmosphere and architecture. It has been called "a finest dictionary of American architecture in New York State."and its easy to see why. We took loads of loads of photos… yeh… I know, you’re surprised aren’t you? It was a lazy, sunny afternoon and bemused residents gave us the odd glance as we clicked away. One chap stopped to chat and we discovered that at one time the area was settled by New England Whalers from Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Providence, scared that the British would reclaim the colonies, they moved the 100 or so miles up the river. Here they dragged their cargo up the main street to be processed, hence the numerous references to whaling.

He also told us that locals were dismayed at the buyers from NY City who come up and 'renovate’ properties - not always sympathetically. Many of the houses on the main street did indeed look in need of some TLC but somehow that only adds to their charm. However, leaving them will not preserve them either. It has rather a colourful past it seems, at one time there was about 50 bars and many houses of ‘ill repute’ when these were raided, many local officials and police were caught!

After declining in the 60’s and 70’s the city has undergone quite a revival. Today it has become home to many antique dealers and their shops line Warren Street, adding to its considerable interest, many business owners have been active in the sensitive restoration of the city’s historic houses.

There has been a local art project running, much the same as we have seen in other towns and cities; remember the horses in Ocala FL and the guitars in Austin TX, well here it is dogs, labs to be precise. Take a look at these, some of the ones that caught our eye…

As a footnote I would mention that we did venture beyond the historic downtown looking for a supermarket as we needed some milk, once outside it we could have been anywhere, but we will always remember the charming downtown, bathed in sunlight, showing us its best, if somewhat peeling face!

.Do take a look at the album to get a real flavour of Hudson