Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park
Apple River Valley has great food, drink, and music.
The heart of Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, and the rest of Dutchess County is its beautiful scenery, which is also the focus of many outdoor activities. You can get to know the area better on a guided walk in the highlands, or you can enjoy the wind on your face as you cruise the Hudson River in a riverboat, sailboat, or kayak. You can enjoy nature in a more refined way by playing a round of golf on one of sixteen championship courses or taking a walk on one of six estate grounds with well-kept gardens and trails.
Such High Places
There is a glass lift that takes you up from the Hudson Riverfront to the Walkway Over the Hudson. It only takes 90 seconds. It is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world and is part of a state historic park. It also links to the 21-kilometer Dutchess Rail Trail. Climb up three fire towers on Mount Beacon, Stissing Mountain, and Ferncliff Forest in Rhinebeck to see the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains beyond. You can also hike through the hills. Visit the Aerodrome Museum in Rhinebeck while you’re there. Every weekend, old planes fly in air shows.
History with Gold
Discover where 400 years of American history took place. Select an age to learn more about, such as the Colonial, the Quaker, or the Gilded Age. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is a great place to learn about the past of presidents. Take a tour of FDR’s childhood house, Springwood. Visit the Great Estates, the fancy homes of the wealthy tycoons who helped build the United States. You can visit Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site and Staatsburgh State Historic Site. These are both Gilded Age houses that were built for parties and are now museums that show how people lived back then. Bannerman Castle, which was built as a military surplus in the 1800s and has a strange reputation, is a surprising piece of the area’s past.
Delicious food and beautiful art
The Culinary Institute of America has four restaurants run by students. You can have a unique meal there, and you can also visit farms and markets to taste fresh food and ingredients. While you’re there, you can also tour and taste at wineries, breweries, and distilleries. On Soukup Farms, which is run by a third-generation family, maple syrup has been made from trees tapped since 1955. Their very good syrup can be bought at the farm store. Rhinebeck has cute shops, antiques, art galleries, and great restaurants. There is an art center for everyone, no matter what their taste is. How about an oil picture from the 18th century by the great Hudson River School artist Frederic Church? And what about a huge modern sculpture by the great artist Richard Serra? You can look at modern art at Dia:Beacon and Vassar’s Loeb Art Center. After that, you can check out cool Beacon and clubs with live music. Watch a show or performance at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts to get ideas.