A Day (Or Two) In Rhinebeck And Red Hook
Rhinebeck and Red Hook, at the top of Dutchess County along the Hudson River, have shared a cultural personality since they werefounded as a single British precinct in 1737. The village of Rhinebeck sprang up at a crossing of the KingsRoad (now Route 9), and a Sepasco Native American trail to the river (now Market Street).
Through the 1700s Red Hook was a small settlement centered around the Historic Elmendorf Inn. Until it became its own town in 1812, Red Hook was called Hardscrabble. The two towns grew together and today feel like they have a lot in common— but don’t say that to their high school sports teams.
Each contains historic villages and cool outposts by the river. Rhinebeck has the cozy Amtrak train station hamlet of Rhinecliff and Red Hook hosts the quaintly hip Village of Tivoli, infused with the artistic energy by nearby Bard College. Between both towns there’s a high concentration of art and historic attractions. Bard’s Fisher Center is a hub for live performance, as is the Center of Performing Arts at Rhinebeck and Kaatsban Cultural Park. The buildings and grounds of the Montgomery Place and Wilderstein historic sites are beautiful and offer poignant windows into the region’s past as well.
There are some picturesque lowintensity hikes at Poet’s Walk [photo, right] and Ferncliff Forest or, to enjoy all the outdoor ambience with less physical effort, there is an ever-increasingnumber of farm breweries, cideries, wineries, and distilleries with high quality beverages served in modern barns. There’s Rose Hill, Lasting Joy Brewery, and Slow Fox in the towns proper and quite a few more just outside the towns’ borders in just about every direction, like Tousey Winery, Hudson Valley Distillery, Branchwater Distillery, and Black Snake Brewing Company.
The Village of Rhinebeck is handsome, walkable, and delicious. The shopping district is versatile, with businesses including Hammertown for your home, Periwinkles for bath and body, Pegasus Footwear for your feet, Hummingbird Jewelers for your other appendages, the Rhinebeck Vinyl Vault for your records, and Megabrain Comics or Oblong Booksfor your mind. The Upstate Films StarrCinema independent movie theater is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Rhinebeck this year, with programming as sharp as ever.
Rhinebeck has an active and enthusiastic arts culture that motivates the character of the town, aided by the presence of T Space, Art Gallery 71, Albert Shahinian Fine Art, The Beck, and more. The village has become a winter destination for its spectacularly unique Sinterklaas Parade it throws just before Christmas. Massive handcrafted moving sculptures dance through the streets illuminated by paper lanterns. Through the summer, events at the Dutchess County Fair Grounds bring thousands to the area for the fair, as well as a slew of other events like car shows and craft fairs.
Any visit to Rhinebeck is punctuated by great food. For a window into the village’s past, eat at Foster’s Coach House or the Beekman Arms Tavern, the latter established in 1704. The Amsterdam, GiGi Trattoria, Terrapin, Market St., and Le Petit Bistro and a dozen other eateries have built fine reputations in our more recent century. For a treat, swing into Samuel’s Sweet Shop, owned by resident movie stars Paul Rudd and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
The Village of Red Hook, though smaller than Rhinebeck, has a number of great reasons to visit. The unofficial center of town is Taste Budd’s Cafe, which, along with breakfast, lunch, and stocked house-made chocolate and confections cases, has an open space with tables and couches for the community to gather. Owner Dan Budd also founded Red Hook Responds, which fed thousands during the pandemic and has remained an active community support network.
There are a number of small businesses worth your time in the village, including Shoppe Girl, Little Pickles and the Crows Nest but you may be most impressed by how good and reasonably priced the food is here. Over the past decade The Flatiron steak house has transformed from a hip new spot to hip institution. There’s the popular Savona’s, Yum Yum Noodle Bar and three Hispanic restaurants; Sabroso, Cancun’s and Bubby’s. Cut loose at Charlie O’s, go for French at Brigitte Bistro or Indian at the Red Hook Curry House or slide into a booth at the iconic Historic Red Hook Diner. Also, the wood-fired pizzas at Lucoli’s are in the running for the best around.
Rhinebeck and Red Hook make up their own little Hudson Valley region with a feel and flavor all its own. The atmosphere is down to earth yet elegant, whether you’re stopping through or staying a while
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