Outdoors
Abandoned homes, rusted-out industrial facilities, crumbling caverns, and neglected towns wither all around us, but there is something about their rotting wood, moss-covered stones, and drooping façades that strike our imaginations aflame.This list of historic sites and abandoned ruins represents a small sample of the aging gems you can explore in the Hudson Valley—and they portray a rich and tumultuous history.
By Kimberly Marshall
Aug 8, 2019
Tags: Outdoors Hudson Valley urban exploring abandoned homes exploring hudson valley neglected towns historic sites ruins Web Only
General Arts & Culture
As August takes root, head to one—or all—of these attractive area events.
By Peter Aaron
Aug 7, 2019
Tags: General Arts & Culture Hudson Valley, events, things to do, festivals, Woodstock, New York, crafts, live music, concerts, nature, outdoors, theater, theatre, comedy, Shadowland Stages, Ellenville, Kingston Video
Entertaining
In addition to offering a headquarters and homebase for Vassar's Alumnae/i, the Vassar Alumnae House offers up its event space and hospitality to the general public to rent out for events and gatherings of all sizes.
By Vassar Alumnae House
Jul 18, 2019
Tags: Entertaining Web Only Sponsored Content
Outdoors
From waterfront camping to hike-in sites, choose your own adventure with our categorical tour of area campgrounds.
By Phillip Pantuso
Jul 1, 2019
Tags: Outdoors camping camp sites
Art of Business
Marissa Weiss, an associate attorney at Walden-based law firm Jacobowitz & Gubits, offers some helpful legal tips for safely navigating New York State's burgeoning hemp and CBD industries.
By Jacobowitz & Gubits
Jun 26, 2019
Tags: Art of Business cbd hemp Web Only Sponsored Content
Beauty & Fashion
From Diplomat's Daughter to Artisan Ambassador, Adolophine Lukabu Sheeley Is a Self-Made Design Diplomat
The daughter of a Congolese diplomat, Kerhonkson resident Adolophine Lukabu Sheeley has built a fair trade, direct-sourced online boutique selling authentic jewelry, bags, textiles and decor made by African artisans.
By Anne Pyburn Craig
May 30, 2019
Tags: Beauty & Fashion fashion textiles african fashion adolophine Web Only
Outdoors
As progress continues on the Kingston Greenline project, residents and visitors are gaining a newly interconnected city.
One of the great bonuses of urban life is the ability to do all of the things, meet all of the people and have all of the fun without being tethered to two tons of automobile. But 20th-century car worship didn’t make walkability a priority, and urban centers everywhere have paid the price, Kingston very much included. Its three major neighborhoods have long felt almost like separate communities.
Several years ago, the city and county joined forces with the Kingston Land Trust to begin developing a 13.5-mile network of linear parks, bike lanes, urban trails, and complete streets to connect Kingston’s recreational, cultural, historic, and commercial assets with attractive, user-friendly trailways for walkers and bikers.
“People had been eyeing the upper Kingston Point rail line that goes past Rondout Gardens and tunnels under the Hasbrouck intersection for a long time,” says Ted Griese, Kingston Land Trust operations manager. “From that energy came the concept of a Greenline. We realized that the rail trails formed a hub that would work as a non-motorized transit system.”
In 2014, a conceptual plan was developed: the Greenline would connect with county rail trails, the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and the Empire State Trail (then, barely a gleam in Governor Cuomo’s eye, now scheduled for completion in 2020).
“We’re tackling each segment as its own animal, and down the road, it will all come together,” Griese says. “There has been some opposition from rail supporters to pulling up the track, and we understand the sentiment, but within the city limits it seems unlikely that rail will be coming back anytime soon. When you experience it on the ground, the city’s a lot more compact, walkable and bikeable than people realize, and people are loving it. We recently got done re-grading the section from Midtown to the Kingston Plaza, and every time we post about it people say how pleased they are.”
The Kingston Greenline, besides connecting the city’s assets—making it possible to walk from dinner on the Rondout to a show at UPAC, or from a Midtown apartment to the supermarket—will connect to the northern end of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail leading to Rosendale and New Paltz and from there to the Walkway Over The Hudson. The western end will connect to the O&W/Hurley Rail Trail and the Ashokan Rail Trail, slated for a grand opening this May.
“This spring our main focus is fundraising for the Hasbrouck/Delaware Parklet, a small green space near that intersection that was all overgrown with brambles, useless, and ugly,” says Griese. “It’s small, but there’s potential for a community gathering space, and there hasn’t been a park in that neighborhood. We’ve cleaned an old railway tunnel, and you can walk through it now. Bit by bit—cleanups, hardscape, plantings—the pieces are coming together, and I think people are going to be more and more amazed. There are bustling urban parts, peaceful walks where I’ve seen all kinds of wildlife, and eventually there will be benches and informational kiosks. It’s taking shape—Kingston Point is finished, Midtown is usable, and by this fall we’re going to be releasing a whole new map with our much more solidified system.”
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By Anne Pyburn Craig
Apr 25, 2019
Tags: Outdoors rail train kingston greenline kingston kingston land trust Web Only
Beauty & Fashion
Bored with your closet? Tired of mainstream fast fashion? Head up to Catskill to experience the creative styling at Factory & Main, a design cooperative and slow fashion studio, where Tsia Carson and Sirpa Cowell have joined forces to make ethical threads—and are having an absolute blast doing it.
Both women, experienced designers, had dreamed of creating original clothing, but didn’t want their visions defined by retail buyers. “I love seeing my designs on women’s bodies. I love making clothing that women can feel comfortable and confident in,” says Carson. “I work with small boutiques and I love my stockists, but there is a lot of churn in retail fashion right now, and it’s hard for them to work with tiny orders and little brands. Selling online works better for that model. But having our own location as a collective may be the best arrangement yet.”
Cowell, born and raised in Finland, fell in love with the US and relocated to New England in 2005. In the US, she continued an already-established design career with, among a long list of other gigs, a position as head of home products design at Garnet Hill and another as a freelance consultant for Ikea Sweden, before moving to Greene County in 2017 to open the boutique.
Carson, a fifth-generation New Yorker, lived in Hawaii for years and still splits her time between Chatham and Honolulu, where she launched her own line several years ago. Her degree is in the performing arts, and she’s authored books on design and worked extensively in building interactive user-experience systems for museums and libraries.
Introduced by a mutual friend at Hudson River Exchange, the two found they shared a mindset: both wanted to do sustainable, small-batch production of comfortable top-quality clothing in a collaborative setting. And when Cowell emailed Carson asking her if she wanted in on Factory & Main, Carson jumped at the chance.
“Sirpa had the factory space, and I had a barn full of fabric,” she says. “We’ve got the sampling room, cutting space, photo studio, and retail space; we have a third designer joining us in May; and we’re meeting with a possible fourth on Friday.”
Even with just the two of them, you’ll find variety on the racks. “Comfort is a value we share, and we both love prints, but my work tends to be more minimalist and Scandinavian,” Cowell says. “Whereas I am fascinated by aloha-wear,” Carson says. “You could say my stuff is a little louder. I bring these colors in sometimes that make Sirpa’s eyes pop. We’ve started creating a few home goods together. It’s so liberating to work this way, to have somebody there to ask, ‘how’s this?’ and get feedback. It gives me the opportunity to experiment with things I’d never try.”
In adding members to the cooperative, the team will add diversity but “maintain an appeal to the same customers,” according to Cowell. “There will be a certain consistency of style, but more importantly, shared values. You’re not going to walk in here and find polyester or anything made by slave labor, not ever.”
The project has a feeling of serendipity to it. “We are literally a factory on the corner of Factory and Main, the intersection of the maker movement and the Main Street movement,” says Cowell. “We have the Catskill Mill right behind us, and they’re waitlisted before they even open; there are new restaurants all over the place, and Lumberyard. And people who love fine clothing do like to be able to come in and feel the fabric and try a few things on. After that, they may buy from you online, but they like to be able to come in and touch the work.”
Those who do so at Factory & Main are favorably impressed. “Love love love this sweet shop,” says an online reviewer. “So rare to find such high quality heirloom clothing. Found perfect gift for my wife, affordable and unique.”
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By Marie Doyon
Apr 25, 2019
Tags: Beauty & Fashion slow fashion fashion boutique clothing clothing designer factory & main catskill Web Only
Holiday Events
From a train ride and Easter egg hunt to a craft beer festival, here are 8 fun Hudson Valley events to check out in April.
By Gina Pepitone and Shrien Alshabasy
Apr 1, 2019
Tags: Holiday Events events Hudson Valley
