New York City to Kingston NY

Leaving the urban Manhattan skyline on the stern of the boat, we started north up the Hudson River. So much history; so many scenic wonders.
The Hudson River is tidal all the way to Albany, the capital of NY state. Just above Manhattan, about 25 miles north of the city, the river narrows into the Hudson Highlands; "conventional size" as one writer has put it. Conventional in size it may be but it has a current comparable to the Mississippi which we've yet to travel. Good practice, I bet! Because we had timed our exit from the city without any precision, we were fighting the current for a good 10 miles but then it turned and we were being pushed. Our first stop ended up being Piermont NY, on the west side of the river. Piermont was chosen because of Xavier's, purported to be the best restaurant in the Hudson Valley. The owners also have a restaurant named The Freelance Cafe and Wine Bar right next door. Interestingly, we didn't go to either but ended up having lunch at the sidewalk cafe since the weather was to die for and the menu was capturing.
Piermont is one of our favorite stops so far. It has become an upscale area and restaurant center (Xavier's) and is not far from the hustle and bustle of NYC. In fact, it is just below the Tappan Zee Bridge which connects Tarrytown on the east to Nyack on the west. Mornings brought the anticipated traffic jam as locals, or "city people", headed into Manhattan for work.
The bad thing about this area, and the Hudson for the first 50 miles, is a lack of safe anchorages and/or marina's. We anchored off shore of Piermont about a mile and suffered the consequences when weather traveled down the Hudson. About 4 p.m., especially this time of year, a storm will travel across the valley only to disappear just as quickly. However, in the meantime, the wind howls and your boat gets beat up. The second nite of this sent us scurrying to safer waters just north of the Tappen Zee Bridge at upper Nyack. There we could scoot in close to shore and be protected by a small curve in the shoreline. Weather also helped us decide that we really couldn't go back into Manhattan, train or no train. Also, we had hoped to call our friend Ken Dolan's brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Melissa, for a visit. They live near the Croton-on-Hudson just north of Tarrytown on the east side.
So, after a relatively good nite's sleep, we headed again up river. Our next destination was to be Bear Mountain State Park.

Bear Mountain Bridge

We passed by Peekskill, a former industrial town and birthplace of the Crayola crayons. Now it's a budding art center. We were now in the Hudson Highlands with tall shorelines since the river cuts through the Appalachian range of mountains which border both sides of the river. Bear Mountain is along this stretch of river and the bridge noted above is part of the Appalachian Trail. When we arrived, we deemed the anchorage questionable, at best, so we pointed our bow upstream and continued on.

West Point Military Academy

Past Bear Mountain, we passed Garrison, 6 miles north. According to one report, the town hasn't changed much since the 1890's which is why, no doubt, Hello Dolly was filmed there and not in Yonkers.

Our next site was West Point, about 3 miles further north on the west shore. Another bit of history I just learned is that during the Revolutionary War, cannon were mounted on the hills surrounding West Point to prevent British ships from coming upstream. It is here that Benedict Arnold was subverted by the British. The fort here was so formidable that the British convinced Arnold to hand it over. The plan failed, the British were defeated, the fort was never again threatened.

West Point stretches more than a mile along the shore and is a formidable site. We cruised slowly on by since we couldn't stop...another 9/11 tragedy. There is a small marina where we could have stopped and had a tour of the facility but no more. Pretty imposing even cruising by. Pictures do not tell the story and my camera isn't good enough to capture all the beauty.
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There are small towns about every 20 miles along the shore. In fact, most of the populace of NY lives either in the city, next to the Hudson or along the Erie Canal. We passed by several on our way to Kingston including Cold Spring, home of the Foundry Museum which made the first iron ship in the U.S., Hyde Park, home of the Culinary Institute of America, the Vanderbilt Mansion and the Franklin Roosevelt Homestead, Poughkeepsie,and Pollepel Island, famous for Bannerman's Castle (and castle it is!). Bannerman was an arms dealer who bought up all the leftover munitions from the Civil War and sold them to whomever would pay the price. He built this huge edifice to raise his family and store the munitions since Manhattan would not allow him to store them in the city. The castle is now in ruins as a series of fires and explosions have destroyed it. Behind Pollepel Island is one of the few natural anchorages before Kingston where one can feel relatively safe since one is protected from the prevailing west and north winds.
The hillsides became less imposing just about at Poughkeepsie because the Appalachian range are behind us. They were still hilly but not cliff-like.
North of Hyde Park, we entered a widened part of the Hudson River and were surprised to see a lighthouse in the seeming middle of the river. But, we knew there was good reason. The river is quite shallow here and the lighthouse was the sentry to the deeper ship channel east of it. Just north of this area was the entrance to Kingston.

This lighthouse marked the entrance to Rondout Creek and Kingston NY. We traveled 4 miles up the creek to our anchorage just before the bridge.

We stayed the weekend enjoying this beautiful view off the stern of our boat. Ahead of us, there were many more boats anchored in the area as it is as far as boats can go on the creek. The weekend was definitely party time for the locals.

Kingston is a favorite stopping place for cruisers I think mainly because it is one of the first real stops after leaving Manhattan. People just stop here to REST! But, the town is very hospitable to its visitors also and word travels fast among the cruising community.

The history of the area is one of brick manufacturing and remnants of factories and side businesses remain. While not economically the best reflection of a thriving town, Kingston has managed to revitalize its shoreline and is inviting to boaters. They have free concerts on the weekend, have great restaurants (we wouldn't know except we heard they were great!!), and a good maritime museum which everyone has to see. And, for Sidney, past the bridge on the land side, there were squirrels to chase! What else could we ask for?

June 4th...getting close to Bunky's birthday. Time to move on. We left Kingston at 7 a.m. and headed to Troy NY, just before Federal Lock #1 and the end of our travels on the Hudson River. Our trip this day was accompanied by rain, sometimes heavy, but lite winds.

We passed Catskill, 111 miles above Manhattan (mileage starts at the Battery). We didn't stop but this is where the first fiberglass sailboat to complete a circumnavigation was built. There are still many boatyards in the area. You know the slogan "Uncle Sam wants you"? Well, the real Uncle Sam was from Catskill and in fact, President Martin Van Buren was married in the parlor of "Uncle Sam's" house. Samuel Wilson sold beef barrels to the military during the War of 1812 and the barrels were stamped with U.S. hence he became Uncle Sam!!

Hudson, Athens and New Baltimore were soon on our stern. Next big town...Albany NY...the capital. About the only thing to cause a bit of interest in Albany, as tourists go, is Rockefeller Center known locally as the "Egg" because of its shape. Inside are many pieces of Rockefeller's modern art collection which, if I were an art buff, I would have loved to see BUT, unfortunately, I am an uneducated citizen when it comes to art. If I like it, it's good otherwise....

One of our neighbors, Thomas Colino, has a brother living in Albany who, coincidentally, owns a boat. But, with Bunky's birthday nearing, we didn't stop but for an overnite in Troy before heading to Waterford. Troy marks 150 miles from the Battery. One more piece of history before I bore you to death: Troy is where Henry Hudson stopped his northward exploration of the river in 1609 finally realizing, we think, that the river was not a shortcut to the Pacific!!

Tomorrow, early, we leave for Waterford.