This tour is designed to lead you across the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and through many of the charming riverfront communities on both sides of the Hudson. The main routes we’ll be following are Route 9 on the east side of the river, from Yonkers to Peekskill, and Route 9W on the west side from Nyack to the Bear Mountain Bridge.
Just north of New York City, the Historic Hudson River Towns tour follows the Hudson River as it flows past our 15 towns and villages. We’ll be telling you about the Native American tribes who once lived in this area, the colonial estate owners who amassed great fortunes and land holdings, the strategic role the region played in the Revolutionary War, how the industrial revolution affected our riverfronts and both the families and fictional characters that are part of this region’s cultural heritage. But this tour is not all about the past. We also want you to get a sense of contemporary life in our charming Hudson River towns that have stories to share as you travel on Routes 9 and 9W and explore their downtown main streets.
This tour is presented by the members of the Historic Hudson River Towns and funded by the NY Bridge Project and the New York State Thruway Authority, with participation from Scenic Hudson and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. A special note of thanks Mercy College for providing technical support.
Sample Stories
For more content, click the "Explore this Tour Remotely" button below.
Birth of the Walkway
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After a fire damaged the railway that ran along this route, the skeleton of the dormant Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge loomed over the Hudson Valley for decades. Ideas about what to do with the structure bounced around the community. The dream of the Walkway Over the Hudson began in the mid-1990s, when a dedicated group of local citizens led by a man named Bill Sepe began a grassroots campaign to turn the bridge into a pedestrian path.
In June 1998, the organization now known as Walkway Over the Hudson officially assumed ownership of the bridge, hoping to turn it into what it is today. Throughout the ensuing decade, the group accumulated allies both private and public, amassing nearly $40 million from both the state and federal governments, agencies focused on historic preservation, and from private philanthropic organizations to complete the project. Attorney Fred Schaeffer was one of the leaders of that group.
"A lot of people thought of it as a rickety old road bridge that should be torn down. There were some sections of the bridge where some of the wooden walkways deteriorated and was falling off. Somebody would see a piece fall off and they would say, 'Oh, the bridge is falling down,' and people actually believed that the best thing for this bridge would be to tear it down and eliminate it and not save it. And probably the hardest part of this project in the beginning was making people understand that it's a great structure, it shouldn't be torn down, and that it is a doable project.
"This bridge, when it was built, was one of the greatest structures built in the 19th century, and it literally was built to last forever. And it was overbuilt actually so that it's not your ordinary type of bridge that is built nowadays where you have to constantly repair it and replace it, and do a lot of structural work. It's a great structure, and it was educating the public to that, and then also to the fact that it is a great thing to be able to walk out over the river and enjoy the view."
The Walkway Over the Hudson opened on October 3, 2009, and was an immediate success, visited by nearly 40,000 people from across America on its first weekend.
Rail Trails
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Here, you're not only enjoying a great New York State Park, but you're also traveling on one of the most unique rail trails in the nation. In the 1880s, this route was first built as a rail line used primarily to carry coal from northeastern Pennsylvania to New England. It earned the nickname "The Great Connector" for uniting the goods of the industrial Northeast with the developing Midwest. Train traffic continued on the rail line until 1974, when a fire burned up one of the bridge's approach spans. It remained out of service until 1993, when a group of local visionaries began fundraising to convert the old railway track into a multi-use path for walkers, joggers, runners, and cyclists. The rehabilitated pathway, named Walkway Over the Hudson, opened in 2009. The route has again proven to be a great connector, this time between two rail-trail systems on either side of the Hudson River, which are part of the Hudson Valley Trail Network.
On the east side of the Hudson, the Walkway serves as the end of the William R. Steinhaus Dutchess Rail Trail. The Steinhaus Rail Trail is a 13.4-mile trail named for a former Dutchess County executive. It stretches south from Poughkeepsie to Hopewell Junction. The Hudson Valley Rail Trail, on the west side of the river, is an additional 7-mile stretch of trail, taking visitors from the town of Highland to the village of New Paltz. If you're looking for a nice 4.6-mile trek, the Walkway Loop Trail connects the Walkway Over the Hudson Bridge to the neighboring Mid-Hudson Bridge, which has a dedicated pedestrian pathway of its own.
The Hudson Valley Trail Network is so unique and spectacular is that, in 2016, the stretch was inducted into the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, D.C. The president of Rails-to-Trails at the time, Keith Laughlin, said Quote The way that the Hudson Valley Trail Network seamlessly connects three unique trails is a prime example of how integrated trail systems can produce important benefits for communities -- for transportation, tourism and economic development. End quote.
