Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
 History, Culture and Recreation on the Hudson River
Explore the 150-mile valley and discover its rich scenic, historical, cultural, and recreational resources from Troy to Yonkers. Wander the
streets of old steamboat ports on both sides of the Hudson. Stop in villages containing stone houses and churches built in the 1600s and 1700s by
Dutch, English, and Huguenot settlers.
Tour stately mansions built for the Livingstons, Vanderbilts, Roosevelts, and Rockefellers. Stroll through grounds designed by Calvert Vaux,
Andrew Jackson Downing, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Beatrix Farrand. Walk in the footsteps of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman and
Sojourner Truth.
Immerse yourself in the settings of legends and stories by Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and other Knickerbocker writers. Tour
General George Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh and Revolutionary War fortifications at West Point and Fort Montgomery, where the views of
the Hudson Highlands are spectacular. Hike the region’s more than 3,000 miles of trails in the Catskills, Shawangunks, Hudson Highlands, and
Palisades and view the majestic panoramas that inspired Thomas Cole, Frederic E. Church, and other Hudson River painters.
Visit the nature preserves and parks that protect woodlands, wetlands, and islands and do some bird-watching, canoeing, kayaking, rock
climbing, or boating. Walk west on the Appalachian Trail across the Bear Mountain Bridge to the summit of Bear Mountain – where the 2,167-mile
trail originated in the 1920s – or hike south along a portion of the 214-mile Long Path between the northern Catskills and the George Washington
Bridge.
Freedom and Dignity
 Several sites along the Hudson River commemorate the American Revolution, the abolition of slavery, and Franklin D. and Eleanor
Roosevelt. Together, they underscore the nation’s struggles to honor the basic human rights of liberty, equality, and dignity.
New Yorkers met at the Senate House in Kingston in 1777 and formed a new governmental system that continues to guide the state today. The
patriots thwarted British attempts at controlling the Hudson by fortifying the Hudson Highlands at West Point and installing two massive chains
across the river.
General George Washington
In October 1782, a year after the British surrendered at Yorktown, Gen. George Washington moved his army of 7,000 men to New Windsor, where
the soldiers lived in log huts until June 1783. Maj. Gen. Henry Knox moved into the Ellisons’ house nearby while Washington established his
headquarters at the Hasbroucks’ farmhouse in Newburgh. It was there that Washington defused a potential mutiny by officers, made plans to disband
the army, and awarded three badges of Military Merit that would become the Purple Heart in the 20th century.
Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth
In the 1800s, the valley played an important role in another epic struggle as fugitive slaves made their way north along the river. Harriet
Tubman, who led countless southern slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, visited Troy, where in April 1860 she incited a riot to
protect a fugitive slave, Charles Nalle. At the Ulster County Courthouse in Kingston, Sojourner Truth made an eloquent appeal that rescued her
son from slavery.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
In the 20th century, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the United States out of the Great Depression and through the turmoil
of World War II. Roosevelt was born at Springwood, the family estate in Hyde Park. Though it remained his lifelong home, Roosevelt felt the need
for greater privacy and solitude while he was President and designed a small stone house that was constructed on Dutchess Hill. He used Top
Cottage as a personal retreat and as a place for family gatherings and to entertain kings, queens, and other dignitaries. During the Great
Depression, Eleanor Roosevelt and a few friends operated a small furniture factory at another Hyde Park retreat. She closed the factory in 1936
and converted it into a residence, which she called Val-Kill Cottage. After her husband died, she lived there for 17 years while engaged in her
humanitarian causes. Next to Springwood is the first presidential library, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, which celebrates the
legacies of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt through its extensive collections and informative exhibits.
Nature and Culture
America’s vision of itself as a wild, untamed wilderness is rooted artistically in the Hudson River Valley. Varying in styled from the
realistic to the allegorical, Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Frederic Church, and many other 19th century artists depicted landscapes with
a dramatic sense of light and atmosphere.
Today, Cole’s Cedar Grove home and studio, near Catskill, and Church’s Olana estate, near Hudson, offer glimpses into the lives of the two
artists and their legacies as painters and conservationists.
 Washington Irving
The writings of Washington Irving and other Knickerbocker authors also shaped American attitudes toward nature. Irving, the author of Rip
Van Winkle and other stories, built Sunnyside as his retreat in Tarrytown.
The U.S. environmental movement began in earnest in the 1960s when grassroots organizations launched a 17-year campaign that saved Storm King
Mountain from becoming the site of a mammoth hydroelectric project. The court decision provided the framework for the first National
Environmental Policy Act.
Today, the Hudson River provides recreational opportunities for kayakers, canoeists, and other boaters. The Hudson River Valley National
Heritage Area supports activities such as the 10-day Great Hudson River Paddle in July, Hudson River Valley Ramble Hiking Weekends in September,
and Revolutionary War reenactments and commemorations in the spring and summer.
National Heritage Area
The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area was established by Congress in 1996 to recognize, preserve, protect, and interpret the
nationally significant history and resources of the valley for the benefit of the nation. This four-million-acre heritage area between Waterford
and the northern border of New York City is a partnership of local, state, and federal sites with the Hudson River Valley Greenway serving as its
manager. The National Park Service provides technical and financial support.
Major highways, such as I-87 (New York State Thruway), I-90, I-84, and the Palisades and Taconic State Parkways, provide access from New York
City and the bordering states to the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. U.S. 9, 9D, and 9W, the primary travel routes in the valley,
connect with a network of country roads leading to places of interest.
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