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HUDSON, NY: the former whaling town and first chartered city in the U.S. heads for a clean future
Traditional and trend-forward at once, Hudson remains a destination for curious travelers and home to artists, scientists, writers, musicians, historic sites, theaters, antiques stores, restaurants, art festivals, and the nonprofit Eco-Grid. Hudson displays many beautifully restored early 19th-century buildings, one of the great architectural legacies in New York State. Hudson is part of the region which is home to the Hudson River School of Art, America’s first indigenous, internationally-recognized art movement.
In 1609, Henry Hudson was probably the first European explorer to visit the site of what is now the City of Hudson. He arrived in his ship the "Half Moon.” In 1785, the City of Hudson was chartered and laid out on a grid pattern. Today, we have tallied a minimum of 14 different nationalities in Hudson, a modern city near farmland, two hours north of Manhattan by road or train.
Hudson is both a precious jewel and fast oddity in the Hudson Valley: a microcosm that can be used to represent many locales. Hudson has gone from a whaling town, an area of prostitution and gambling and industry, making everything from buttons to cement, to a sophisticated small city replete with stunning folklore. The end of the 20th century brought to Hudson a decrease in population and the flight of many industries. At the same time, the environmental movement gained a great deal of momentum in the Hudson Valley as a whole. Bridging Hudson’s historic past with its current social, economic and environmental issues will require innovation.
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