Category Archives: Hudson River Valley
Sunset over Lake Valhalla, Cold Springs, New York
Cold Springs, Westchester County, New York
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Sunset over the Hudson River
The Hudson Highlands from Scarborough Park, Westchester County, New York
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There are few places as evocative as the Hudson River Valley. The Hudson is a mighty river, a rival to the Mississippi in width and power, with amazing highlands that stretch along its banks. I found myself late one afternoon atop the hill in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, noticing the sun was almost gone, and remembered that I wanted a shot of the sunset over the river. My original plan was to drive up to the overlook on Bear Mountain, but it seems I’m forever tarrying in Sleepy Hollow. So as I raced up Route 9, I remembered the tiny park along the river in the village of Scarborough, and found myself wending my way to it. The wind was fierce that day, and the waves were nearly crashing against the stones of the shore, but I managed to snap a few shots before racing back to the car to warm my freezing fingers. I was fiddling with my phone, probably trying to set the GPS, without which I could never find my way through New York City to my home on Long Island, when I happened to glance up and notice the sky appeared to be on fire. Grabbing my camera, I dashed from the car, scrambled up the bank and managed to grab a half dozen shots before the fire in the sky burned away as quickly as it had come, leaving the night rising to meet the fading light.
Snipers at the Battle of Kingston
The Burning of Kingston, 2009, Kingston, New York
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The Reenactment at the Burning of Kingston might not be the largest I’ve been too, and certainly not the most historically accurate. But it might be one of the most interesting. The action ranges all around the park where it’s held, through the woods, up and over the hills. And the whole time the crowd follows quietly behind, like the audience at a golf tournament. There’s a haphazard, somewhat chaotic character about the action I found very appealing, and perhaps that was the most authentic part of all. War I would presume isn’t typically well orchestrated, and following along behind the soldiers, often finding themselves taking the wrong route and having to double back through the crowd drove that point home. Being so scattered, there’s not a large crowd in bleaches watching the action, so it’s possible to forget you’re even among them. Being close to the action, feeling like you’re a part of it at time, brought the reenactment to life, and to me that’s what living history is supposed to do.
Home in Mink Hollow
Catskill Mountains, The Rip Van Winkle Trail, outside Palenville, New York
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The Catskill Mountains in New York’s Hudson River Valley has long been a source for artistic inspiration. This inspiration underwent a revival in the 1960s-70s when Bob Dylan took early retirement there. For three days in 1969 it was the center of the musical world with the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair. All this was a few years before my time however, as I came of age in the late seventies. What never sunk in at the time though, until driving around the area last fall, was Mink Hollow – of Hermit Of Mink Hollow by eclectic musician, singer, pop craftsman and producer Todd Rundgren is also in the Catskills. Mink Hollow is a beautiful place, and if you want to get technical about it, Todd lived on the other branch of Mink Hollow Road than where I found myself. But it was fall, the Catskills and the sign said Mink Hollow Road, and so I put on All The Children Sing and it was close enough for me.
