Hudson Valley Totally Explained

ť For the magazine, see Hudson Valley (magazine).

The Hudson Valley refers to the canyon of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, generally from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy. Historically a cradle of European settlement in the northeastern United States and a strategic battleground in colonial wars, it now consists of suburbs of the metropolitan area of New York City at its southern end, shading into rural territory, including "exurbs," farther north.
Geographically, the Hudson Valley could refer to all areas along the Hudson River, including the Bronx or even Bergen County, New Jersey. However, this definition isn't commonly used and the Tappan Zee Bridge is often considered the southern limit of the area. Though Westchester County is often classified as part of the region, Westchester residents who live at the southern end of the county (and especially the parts closer to the Long Island Sound than the Hudson River) generally don't associate themselves with the region. Including all of Westchester County in the definition of the region would seem unusual to many and seem like something one might only read in a travel guide. In fact, there's a road sign on the New York State Thruway in Yonkers that suggests that the "Hudson Valley region" is located somewhere further to the north and west along the Thruway.

History

   At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in the 17th century, the area of Hudson Valley was inhabited primarily by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican Native American people.
   The first Dutch settlement was in the 1610s with the establishment of Fort Nassau, a trading post (factorij) south of modern-day Albany, with the purpose of exchanging European goods for beaver pelts. Fort Nassau was later replaced by Fort Orange. During the rest of the 1600s, the Hudson Valley formed the heart of the New Netherland colony operations, with the New Amsterdam settlement on Manhattan serving as a post for supplies and defense of the upriver operations.
   During the French and Indian War in the 1750s, the northern end of the valley became the bulwark of the British defense against French invasion from Canada via Lake Champlain.
   The valley became one of the major regions of conflict during the American Revolution. Part of the early strategy of the British was to sever the colonies in two by maintaining control of the river.
   In the early 1800s, popularized by the stories of Washington Irving, the Hudson Valley gained a reputation as a somewhat gothic region inhabited by the remnants of the early days of the Dutch colonization of New York (see, for example, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow).
   Following the building of the Erie Canal, the area became an important industrial center and remained so until the mid 20th century, when many of the industrial towns went into decline.
   It also was the location of the estates of many wealthy New York industrialists, such as John D. Rockefeller, and of old-moneyed tycoons such as Franklin Roosevelt, who was a descendant of one the early Dutch families in the region.
   The area is associated with the Hudson River School, a group of American Romantic painters who worked from about 1830 to 1870.
   The natural beauty of the Hudson Valley earned the Hudson River the nickname America's Rhine, the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley being compared to that of the famous 40 mile (65 km) stretch of Germany's Rhine River valley between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz.

Pollution and urban sprawl

Due to the decrease in industry within New York State over the past 40 to 50 years, parts of the Hudson Valley have seen economic decline and unemployment to a greater degree than other areas in the state. Still seen in the Valley today are abandoned factories and old buildings that are remnants of a once thriving region that included upscale theaters, lavish homes, resort-hotels, and health spas. The numerous factories that at one time lined the Hudson River poured garbage and industrial waste directly into the river. This pollution wasn't assessed in a comprehensive fashion until the 1970s. By that time, the largest company still operating factories in the area was General Electric, which became primarily responsible for cleaning the Hudson River. As of 2006, after decades of litigation, GE was still in the process of complying with government cleanup directives. Though swimming was banned in parts of the river in the early 1960s, the pollution has been steadily declining and, as a result, some municipalities have begun to allow people to swim in it again.
The crowding and high cost of living associated with the New York metropolitan area and its adjacent suburbs has led increasing numbers of people to move from these densely populated areas to the Hudson Valley, including parts as far north as greater Poughkeepsie, and commute into New York City to work. This demand for housing has resulted in increased residential development, and a significant increase in housing costs in the lower- and mid-Hudson Valley regions. Along with this residential development has come commercial development such as shopping malls, and other landmarks of suburbia and urban sprawl. Many long-time residents have reacted to this by forming environmental and preservationist groups dedicated to stopping further development.
While parts of the Valley today struggle with crime and poverty, other parts contain some of the wealthiest and safest communities in the nation (see, for example, communities discussed in articles on Westchester and Putnam Counties). The overall effect of decreased industrialization and increased residential development has been a transformation of the region, especially in the lower- and mid-Hudson Valley, to an exurb struggling to balance the competing demands of maintaining the area's rural character with the conveniences and services of suburban living.

Regions

The Hudson Valley is divided into three regions: Lower, Middle and Upper. The following is a list of the counties within the Hudson Valley sorted by region.

Lower Hudson

Cities and Towns

Albany

Annandale-on-Hudson

Beacon

Brewster

Carmel

Catskill

Chester

Cohoes

Fishkill

Goshen

Hudson

Mahopac

Middletown

Monroe

Newburgh

New City

New Paltz

New Windsor

Nyack

Ossining

Peekskill

Tivoli

Troy

Yonkers

Yorktown

External results

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