Looking back at Chronogram’s most-read stories of the year is its own kind of cultural temperature check: 2025 showed a mix of curiosity and appetite, civic urgency and escapism, big-picture unease and very local intrigue. From astrology that promised (and delivered) upheaval, to restaurant news, protest coverage, seasonal bucket lists, and moments when the Hudson Valley popped up on the national stage, these were the stories that resonated most in a year shaped by change, uncertainty, and a persistent desire to know what’s next—and what’s happening just down the road. Below, our top articles of the year.
12. What’s New in the Kingston Dining Scene
Every once in a while, there is a flurry of bar/restaurant scene activity so concentrated in one town or city that we have to aggregate it into a round-up. In late September, Kingston took the spotlight as we reported on Blue Duck Brewery, the satellite taproom for Union Street, Kestrel Tavern, Golden Hour Grocer, and Asian tapas place/market Lucky Catskills, as well as an expanded new location for beloved bakery Kingston Bread + Bar and a trailer for Little Rye Bakehouse. What’s wild is that the Kingston food & drink news hasn’t stopped since this round-up. Little Rye Bakehouse got an permanent, expanded production spot; Fletcher & Lu market shuttered, followed by Ollie’s Slice Shop. A busy time indeed.
11. At Isabela in Amenia a Michelin-Starred Chef Serves Vegetable-Driven Fare
You mention Michelin stars and people get, well, starstruck. In April, we reported that at new Amenia restaurant Isabela, the former Semilla chef Jose Ramirez-Ruiz was bringing a refined, vegetable-forward vision to the Hudson Valley. With a “cocina de cercanias” approach—cooking with what’s around—the acclaimed chef employs local ingredients, understated technique, and surprising depth in a cozy space with 44 seats and a bar open to walk-ins.
10. Hudson Valley Spring Craft Fairs, Street Fests & Makers’ Markets
When sprrrring is in the air, people do love to shop! As the season warms up, the region is always teeming with markets featuring an irresistible medley of antique gems, vintage threads, and beautiful, handmade items, which we round-up annually in one handy guide. It’s not exactly gift-giving season, but after being cooped up all winter, it’s understandable that people are eager to get out of the house and open their wallets. Plus many of these fairs coincide with Memorial Day Weekend, so basically the official weekend of thrifting, garage sale-ing, market cruising, and vintage barn hopping.
9. Montauk Catch Clubhouse Now Open on Route 32
A fishmonger in a former strip club, what’s not to love? A pandemic pivot, fresh seafood, clam chowder, and a murky past—this story’s got it all. Before their roadside brick-and-mortar shop/fish shack, Montauk Catch Club was already a regional farmers’ market favorite, so people were eager to gobble up news about a permanent location. In early June, we announced that all the stripper poles had been cleared out of the former Cuties, replaced instead with a soothing baby-pink interior and glowing counters boasting a dozen varieties of freshly caught seafood. The spot also offers curated pantry goods, house-made sauces, prepared foods like shrimp dumplings and lobster salad, plus a limited, weekly-changing, in-house dining menu with selections like clam chowder, spicy yellowfin tartare, lobster rolls, cioppino fisherman’s stew, fish tacos, and more. They reeled us in hook, line, and sinker.
8. How Minnewaska’s “Severance” Sherpa Helped the Show Get its Shot
Unless you live under a rock, no matter where you were in America this year, everyone was obsessed with Apple TV’s “Severance.” It made Time’s list of top 10 shows of 2025 (coming in at number 5) and Rolling Stone’s top 15. In the past few years, it’s garnered 41 Emmy nominations and 10 wins plus three Golden Globe noms. So imagine the delight of local viewers when they saw not one but many Hudson Valley landmarks in season two, including Eng’s and other Kingston spots. But the most prominent local cameo award goes to a snowy Minnewaska State Park, which was the epic backdrop for the MDR team’s Outdoor Retreat and Team-Building Occurrence (ORTBO) in the episode “Woe’s Hollow.” We do love to see the Hudson Valley in the national spotlight so it’s no surprise that people were obsessed with this article, where we chatted with Eric Humphrey, Minnewaska Park manager, about his role in aiding production of the episode. Praise Kier!
7. Newburgh: Rising Tide on the Hudson
Every month, we profile a different Hudson Valley town or city in the pages of Chronogram—a sort of annual check-in to see what’s new, what isn’t, and how a given municipality is adjusting to the constantly changing slate of pressures, from housing shortages and gentrification to development plans and political gridlock. It’s an telling bellwether which of these community profiles makes the list of top articles: this year Newburgh is the lone city to make the cut. It makes sense, it’s a city on the rise, reclaiming its waterfront, boosting local businesses, and fostering community resilience. With new developments, cultural hubs, and a thriving dining scene, after years of post-industrial poverty, crime, and instability, the city’s future looks bright.
6. 6 New Restaurants that Have Opened in Hudson in the Past Year
Hudson’s restaurant scene never sleeps. At the end of January this year, we gathered the past year’s news clips together into one article to help people get their culinary bearings. Banque, Saint Florian, and Taiga were among the six new spots we reported on. (Another newcomer on the list, Via Cassia, was recently nominated as one of this year’s Best New Restaurants in USA TODAY’s readers’ choice awards; vote through December 20.) And in new developments since that article was released, the owners behind the Meat Hook and Mel the Bakery teamed up to revive the classic Hudson Diner; and boutique hotel Pocketbook Hudson opened along with its onsite restaurant Ambos.
5. Hudson Valley Restaurants That Have Aged Like Fine Wine
Everybody loves a good ol’ restaurant round-up. Especially a good’ ol’ round-up of good ol’ restaurants. We spend so much time covering what’s shiny and new on the Hudson Valley dining scene, so it was nice to put together this list of time-tested eateries. And people ate. It. Up. It’s like a greatest hits album but for eating out. If these restaurants have survived over 10 years and global pandemic, they’re doing something right. From white tablecloth spots like Le Canard and Red Onion to the endearing, casual chaos of Graziano’s or the artfulness of the Corner, you can take this round-up as a to-do list and systematically tick all the restaurants off, then start again at the top.
4. Gemela to Replace Mud Club & Early Terrible
The grassy slope between the erstwhile spots Mud Club and Early Terrible, lined by Adirondack chairs, trees, and stacked-stone walls, was the veritable campus quad of Woodstock for eight years. The village has itself exploded in popularity since the pandemic, so it makes sense people were paying attention when we reported in mid-March that the tandem coffee & bagel shop/bar would being replaced by a single entity, Gemela, come May. It’s big news in a small town. Gemela is now open with a blend of casual daytime dining, evening bar service, and grab-and-go options headed up by Lisa Choi, former sous-chef of Silvia.
3. Pro-Democracy Rally Coverage
It was a big year for protests in the Hudson Valley and across the nation, as core principles of democracy came under fire from an increasingly totalitarian administration. Our written and photographic coverage of local protests was consistently among our top-read content. There was the Hands Off Rally in April, the May Day Strong rallies in May; the No Kings Rallies across the region in June to protest Trump’s Military Parade and again in October to protest against ICE raids, National Guard deployments, boat bombings, and any number of other gross executive overreaches. As editorial director Brian K. Mahoney wrote in his April editor’s note, “Democracy doesn’t die with a bang. It dies with a shrug. With a news cycle that moves on. With the hope that someone else will handle it. But someone else isn’t coming. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Resistance isn’t futile. It’s fertile. And now it’s time for planting.”
2. Summer Bucket List
There’s something deliciously FOMO-inducing about a bucket list. Who doesn’t want to get the most out of the ephemeral magic of summer in the Hudson Valley? With activities ranging from hiking and beer-drinking to art park visits and artisanal ice cream, the list truly has something for all kinds. If you knock all these things off the list before Labor Day, you are sure to have had a Grade A, damn good Hudson Valley summer or your money back, guaranteed. If you didn’t, don’t worry, it’s perennially relevant. You’ll get another chance next year. And in the meantime you can check off our winter bucket list.
1. The Astrology of 2025
Whether at the hand of blind oracle or a turbaned crystal-ball fortune teller, strewn amid the spent tea leaves at the bottom of a cup, or buried in between cards of the tarot deck, we humans have an insatiable desire to glimpse what’s coming. So it’s no surprise that the number one story of the year was our astrological overview for 2025, which people consulted all the way through December. Plus “Prelude to the Great Reset” is a pretty epic, if foreboding, subheadline. Our resident astrologer Cory Nakasue called 2025 “a pivotal year for breaking up and unearthing the last stubborn bits of structure, system, and organization that obstruct new foundations that need building,” predicting plenty of chaos and confusion along the way. Hope you did all that personal excavating, because spring 2026 is when that “Great Reset” actually happens.
