Quantcast

kandyharris

by
10

Here’s a two-for-one special like no other: Conjoined twin brick townhouses built in 1825, located upstate in the historic Greene County village of Coxsackie.

The Federal-style houses at 2-4 Mansion Street contain a host of original details including six chimneys (which means a whole bunch of fireplaces), antique windows, slate roofing, newel posts, pocket doors, intricate moldings and mantels. An interior size of 3,000 square feet and six bedrooms makes this one spacious riverside house on the Hudson. The asking price is $280,000.

by
2

Maryann’s Coconut Cream Pie room in the Roxy Motel

The Catskills and Hudson Valley are filled with small inns, hotels and B&Bs. Whether they’re simple and geared toward unobstructed access to nature, or fancy with plenty of luxurious amenities (a spa would be nice, too), there’s a pillow for every personality around these parts. So skip the Comfort Inn and stay in one of these lodgings instead.

by
6

As the temperatures drop, the opportunities to sit outside under a blanket of stars in front of the fire pit in upstate New York are waning. That means taking the party indoors, or heading out for some away-from-the-homestead fun. One of our favorite wintertime activities is taking in a movie at one of the indie movie theaters situated around the Hudson Valley and Catskills.

Indie movie houses are kind of a big deal up here.

by

Peekamoose and Table Mountain. Photo by Daniel Case via Wikimedia Commons

It’s time. The lush vegetation around the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains is transforming into a wonderland of burnished gold, torrid amber and eye-popping crimson. Whether you’re driving or relying on public transportation to get up here, just about anywhere you go in upstate New York will be a visual feast, so considering one of our recommendations for your annual leaf-peeping trip to the Hudson Valley and Catskills.

by

Hurds Family Farm. Photo via Facebook

For those of you not partial to New York’s balmy summer, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief and break out your knit scarves. Fall is officially here. That also means the pick-your-own orchards in the Hudson Valley are bursting with late summer/fall produce like apples, raspberries, corn, tomatoes and eggplant, not to mention gourds aplenty, ready to be picked by…well, yourself. That’s sort of the whole point.

Most pick-your-own orchards offer lots of kid-friendly activities in addition to produce picking — which, let’s face it, feels a whole lot like work to an 8-year-old — such as petting zoos, corn mazes, hayrides and, of course, eating way too many apple cider doughnuts.

Here are our picks (see what we did there?) for pick-your-own orchards in the Hudson Valley.

by
10

New York State Thruway photo via Wikimedia Commons

A couple weeks ago we explored the possibility of car-free getaways to the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Now we’re changing course and delving into a more convenient endeavor for many: driving along the New York State Thruway.

Anyone who owns a second home up north near a major thoroughfare will tell you that the location has its perks. Weekending is much easier when it’s nearly a straight shot between your downstate and upstate homes (and for our purposes, “upstate” refers to the Hudson Valley and Catskills, not Buffalo and other northern locations along I-90). When winter’s bad weather hits, the major roadways get cleared much faster than the back roads, making the commute safer. And because we’re up in the country, one does not have to venture too far outside of a Thruway community to find a tucked-away property in the Hudson Valley.

But most importantly, some of our favorite west-of-Hudson towns are located off of or close to one of the Thruway exits below.

by

Overlook Mountain Fire Tower View. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

The heat is finally breaking so we think it’s high time to do some hiking in the Catskill Mountains. While you could join the mass influx of tourists around mid-to-late October (and we wouldn’t blame you), skipping the crowds and visiting off-season is definitely worth consideration.

Even if you schedule your hiking trip into the late fall and winter months, you’ll still catch the jaw-dropping scenery that keeps us coming back for more. Mid winter turns the Catskills into a new landscape, festooned with sparkling white and frozen waterfalls captured in time. Come up during early fall to miss the throngs of swimming-hole hunters and experience the first golden glimmers of the new season.

Let’s explore a handful of fun Catskill fall hikes to take anytime of the year.

by
12

Mill Street, Woodstock. Photo via Woodstockguide.com

Oh, the conundrum of car ownership when you live around public transportation. Especially when you also live up north, where public transportation is less reliable. To car, or not to car? That is the question for the part-time upstater.

We’ve grappled with this question on the pages of Brownstoner Upstate more than once, hoping that if we tease out the issues enough, we’ll stumble upon a way to painlessly make it happen. Here’s the bad news: There’s no painless way to live in upstate New York without a car. In fact, depending on where you live, it’s downright impossible unless you go completely off-grid and become self-sustainable…and you don’t fear total isolation, which isn’t great for the human psyche as we’ve all learned from Alone.