Red Hook
- For the neighborhood in Brooklyn, see Brooklyn/Gowanus and Red Hook.
Red Hook is the name of both a village and a township in Dutchess County, New York. The town encompasses the villages of Red Hook and Tivoli as well as the hamlets of Annandale-on-Hudson, Barrytown and Upper Red Hook. This is a very pretty area of the Hudson Valley, characterized by countryside and small towns.
Red Hook Area Chamber of Commerce provides tourist information.
Get in
By car
Car is your best bet. The main north/south road in the area is Route 9, which bisects the village of Red Hook and connects it with Rhinebeck, to its immediate south. Its local offshoot is Route 9G, which is one lane each way, and enables you to get to Bard College and Tivoli.
By train
You can take Amtrak to Rhinecliff and then take a taxi. Taxis are expensive, however, so get a ride from someone if you can.
Get around
To get around this area, for the most part, you will need a car. Biking is possible in decent weather.
See
- Bard College (Campus Road, Annandale-on-Hudson), ☏ +1 845-758-6822, toll-free: +1-800-BAR-DCOL (227-3265), admission@bard.edu. Office of Admission is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 p.m. during the academic year. Bard College has a lovely campus that is well worth visiting if you are driving in the area. The architecture varies from Victorian and neo-Gothic style to Frank Gehry. There is also Blithewood Garden — a beautiful garden with big rose bushes, statuary, and a great view across the Hudson, downhill from a Victorian mansion that now houses the Levy Economics Institute — and a separate pleasant modern take on a Japanese rock garden island with a distinctive footbridge to get there and a moat full of carp, with the pretentious name of "Parliament of Reality," across campus near the Performing Arts Center. Much wildlife lives on campus, including hares and several varieties of pretty butterflies. There are student-guided tours arranged by the Admission Office, but you can also obtain a self-guided tour pamphlet and a map in that office, or at the kiosk in front of it. In addition, there are concerts and other events at Bard that are open to the public. One thing to understand about Annandale-on-Hudson is that it is not a real town, and more or less synonymous with Bard, with no center at all (though there is a bit of land not owned by the college — see the Montgomery Place listing below for one example). The nearest real town to Bard is Tivoli to the north or, slightly farther, the village of Red Hook to the south.
- Montgomery Place, 25 Gardener Way, Annandale-on-Hudson, ☏ +1 845-758-5461. Grounds admission: 9 AM-4 PM daily; Admission to the mansion is only by timed tour, at 10:30 AM, noon, 1:30 PM and 3 PM. Walk-ins only (reservations are not possible). 380-acre historic site overlooking the Hudson, including a grand mansion. The grounds are lovely, with great views of the Hudson, and are home to lots of wildlife. The property also includes signposted trails, the best of which is the Sawkill Trail, which you can follow to see a view of a beautiful little waterfall which was depicted in art starting in the 1820s. The hours for grounds admission apply to vehicles; after 4 PM, the gate is closed, but pedestrian access is easy, if you don't mind walking down the long dirt driveway to the house, past farms and forest. Access to the grounds is free. Grounds and house tour (45 minutes, the only way one can visit the house): Tickets: $10, children 3 and under: free.
- Memorial Park (Town Green), Red Hook Village. The park itself includes a dignified war memorial and a pretty little garden. There are also two beautiful houses right across the street from the park, one of which is an inn that is still in use while undergoing renovation. Worth a stop if you are driving up Route 9. Free.
Do
- Alison Wines & Vineyards, 231 Pitcher Lane, ☏ +1 845 758-6335. Tours and tastings from mid-April through December, Sa-Su 11AM-5PM. Views of the Catskill Mountains.
- Mead Orchards, 15 Scism Rd, Tivoli, ☏ +1 845 756-5641. August through October only, 10AM-5:30PM, weekends and Monday holidays. Pick your own fruit and vegetables.
Buy
Eat
- Santa Fe, ☏ +1 845 757-4100. 52 Broadway, Tivoli. Exceptionally popular Mexican with emphasis on fresh produce and bold flavors.
- Two Boots Hudson Valley, 4604 Route 9G, ☏ +1 845-758-0010. Mon-Thurs: 4-9 PM; Fri: 11:30 AM-10 PM; Sat: Noon-10:00 PM; Sun: Noon-9 PM. Similar to the locations of this chain around the country, but notable as the only place to eat within walking distance of the Bard campus that's open after 7:30 PM most nights, and it also has a full bar including some decent beers. The hours given are for delivery; the restaurant seems to stay open 30 minutes later than listed online. Pizza: $9.50 and up for small, $12.95 and up for medium, $16.95 and up for large. One medium pizza is plenty for a person with a hearty appetite.
Drink
Sleep
Stay safe
If you are driving, watch out for deer on the road and cyclists or pedestrians on the side of the road. Deer cross very often, sometimes darting headlong into traffic without warning, and you really don't want one to go through your windshield if you can avoid it. If you are cycling or walking on the side of 9G, be very mindful of motor vehicle traffic. This narrow road is a major thoroughfare in the area, it lacks any sidewalk, and many motorists speed. There have been some fatal accidents involving pedestrians.
Go next
To the south, Rhinebeck is a small town, but much bigger than Red Hook, full of lovely houses, and a good place for a stroll in good weather.
To the north, Hudson has a long strip of great buildings on Warren St.
To the west, across the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, are the city of Kingston and the Catskill Mountains.
To the east are the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
| Routes through Red Hook |
| Albany ← Hudson ← | N  S
|
→ Rhinebeck → New York City |