The WSJ’s OFF DUTY section’s lead story “Hudson River’s Cool,” is about visiting New York States Hudson River Valley. For me, the Hudson River Valley is one of my favorite places to visit.
The article details three weekends in the Hudson River Valley, by featuring three cities, Hudson, Kingston, and Beacon. In my travels, I’ve visited all three, and I have a special fondness for Hudson. But my travels exploring the Hudson River Valley started when I was a youngster.
One of my Saturday adventures with my father, was to take the New York Central train from Grand Central Station on the eastside of Manhattan, and visit several towns along the Hudson River Valley. Our first stop was Tarrytown, which allowed us to visit the Sleepy Hollow cemetery, the setting for Washington Irving’s 1820 short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and the mysterious Headless Horseman. Next, we visited Philipsburg Manor House a 1693 historic house, on a former sprawling Colonial-era estate. We always visited the town of Ossining. There was a small park overlooking the Hudson River, and the train tracks. From there we had a perfect view of Sing Sing Prison. The New York Central trains ran right under the prison.
Throughout my adult years, I have had a chance to explore, and visit most of the towns, lining the Hudson River. The one town I really became to know, was the town of Hudson. There were two separate occasions that brought me to visit the town of Hudson. Both had a profound effect on my work, and on my interests, so much so, that I set my novel, Unfaithful in Hudson, and incorporated those events in the book.
The first was when I was working for a small ad agency. One of my clients made Berber Rugs, and I was designing several ads and a brochure for them. What I needed was a location, which had the atmosphere for these wonderfully crafted rugs. I searched the entire tri-state area, looking for a location, but couldn’t find an appropriate location. After some research I came across a possibility. Located just south of Hudson is the home of Frederic Church, called Olana, now part of New York States historic locations. Church was one of the very important artists of the Hudson River School. When I scouted Olana, I found that it was the perfect location. While writing the book I decided to have the main protagonist and her best friend use one of their high school trips, in chapter 4, to explain my two experiences with Hudson. Here is an excerpt from the Olana trip; “Look Cathy, at this beautiful doorway.’ ‘All the tiles, making up the doorway, have a Persian and Moorish design.’” “Yes, it says in the Olana pamphlet, that Church designed the stencils that were used to create the tiles, from his travels in the Middle East.” Yes, it was a perfect location for my photo shoot, and the client was very happy.
My second experience with Hudson was just after I was certified as a scuba diver. Now that I was enjoying the underwater world, I wanted to expand my knowledge, and study marine mammals. Once again, I combed the tri-state area of New York, hoping to find a class detailing the various types of marine mammals. I was surprised that there wasn’t a class in any of the schools and universities that I could easily attend. Expanding my research, I was shocked to find that there was a class, accompanied with an outing to Cape Cod, that was dedicated to marine mammals. It was a ten-week course, every Friday night, taught at the Hudson Junior College, with a weekend to Provincetown, MA. I was baffled, why Hudson? Now Hudson is a good sixty miles from New York City, and yet it was a whaling town. When I learned the reason, I incorporated it in to my book. From chapter 3, here’s an excerpt; “And Mom, they told us the story about our town, where we live.” “What about our town?” “Let me tell it Caroline.” “No!’ ‘It’s my story Cathy.’” “Now stop that, both of you.’ ‘You can both tell me, slowly and quietly, taking turns.’” “I’ll start.’ ‘The funny thing about our town Mom, is that it started about whales.’ ‘Those big animals that swim in the ocean, and we’re so far up the river from the sea.’” “They told us that these two brothers.’ ‘Who were from Nantucket.’ ‘That’s an island near Cape Cod.’ ‘Where we were this summer, Auntie June.’” “Yes, they had whaling ships, and they were looking for a safe harbor for them, and their families, Mom.’ ‘So, they sailed up the Hudson River until they came here.’” “Did they just settle down when they arrived here dear?” “No Mom.’ ‘They had to buy the land from the Dutch.’” “And Auntie June, the Dutch bought it from the Mohicans, years, and years ago, who owned all this land.”
I spent ten weeks every Friday night driving to Hudson. Luckily, I had friends who had a country house not too far away in Chatham, NY, just a short ride into dairy country. Yes, I wrote an account of the girl’s trip to Provincetown to watch, and learn about the whales in chapter 4, which comes after the Olana trip.
