Wildlife, design, food & drink, travel, real estate, country characters, adventures, waterfalls.
All in Destinations
What’s the best way to spend a Saturday in Saugerties? In celebration of Laura Stevenson’s upcoming show at Opus 40, we asked the Saugerties-based singer-songwriter to talk us through a perfect weekend day in this quaint Hudson River town. Laura has a 3-year-old daughter, and all her recommendations are very kid-friendly.
Inquiring Minds Bookstore and Coffee House sells new books alongside used books, has a super kids section as well as a giant grown-up selection, and pours notably delicious coffee, tea, and lemonade. When it’s too cold or too hot or too rainy to enjoy the outdoors, this Saugerties book shop can really save the day.
Levon Helm Studios, a warm, intimate music venue tucked into a barn in Woodstock, is hands-down one of the best places to see live music in New York.
Levon Helm, the drummer and one of the vocalists for The Band, designed the Barn with acoustics in mind, so there might be a scientific reason for why every song sounds so big and warm and beautiful in this landmark room. Maybe it’s the materials that were used to construct the Barn in 1975—local bluestone, hemlock, and pine—or maybe it’s the vaulted shape of the space or just a particularly excellent sound system.
I like to think that all the artists who’ve graced this stage, from David Crosby, Mavis Staples, and Emmylou Harris to My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, and Steve Earle have left behind a patina of good juju. I could feel it when I walked into the room.
Got trash and recycling in Greene County? Looking for a local dump in the Catskills? Here’s a guide to waste stations located in Catskill, Coxsackie, Hunter, and Windham. Follow the rules, bring cash, and mindfully dispose of your garbage and recycling when garbage trucks aren’t there to serve you.
A treasure trove of Greene County History, the Vedder Research Library is your one-stop shop for questions about local land, ancestry, and more. Historian and archivist Jonathan Palmer, a Greene County native with a passion for the area, brings local history to life with the effervescent positivity (and corny jokes and mustache) of a young, real-life Ted Lasso.
Need a rainy day activity in the Catskills? Mountain Top Library in Tannersville should be on every book-lover’s bucket list. With vaulted ceilings, giant windows, cozy seating nooks, and an excellent kids’ section, there is a lot to love about this public library nestled in the Catskill Mountains.
Pratt Rock Trail, leading up to the Mount Rushmore of the Catskills, was really tough for my city kids, who’ve already hiked plenty of beginner trails in the Catskill Mountains. I disagree with the tourism site that calls it “perfect for beginners.” For us, it was way too big a jump into harder hikes. There are some great views, but hikers need to avoid a giant wasp nest near the stone carvings.
Tanners Boat House, a New England seafood shack in Tannersville, has lobster rolls, lakeside views, a little beach with canoe, kayak, paddle board, and tube rentals, a giant playground next door, beer, wine, booze, and a trolley to take you back to town. This is their first summer of operation and it’s 2022’s best new full-service family-friendly destination in the Catskills.
Don’t go to Disney World for the food. Go to Disney for the rides and princess-sightings, and eat the silliest, sweetest, weirdest, most delicious things you can while you’re there. A Brooklyn food critic shares favorite Disney food and drinks, plus offers tips on booking hot tables, and makes the most of club level dining at the Disney resorts.
Travel back to 1663 at the oldest house in the Hudson Valley. At the Bronck House and Museum, run by the Greene County Historical Society in Coxsackie, history buffs can see first-hand how a single-room stone house grew into a Dutch Colonial home with a standalone kitchen and learn about how much life has changed in 350 years.
Boston makes a great kid-friendly vacation destination, especially if your family includes some history buffs. We visited Boston with our 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. Here’s our #1 hotel recommendation, plus the most family-friendly historical highlights, some fun finds for younger kids, and the tastiest things we ate.
Black Horse Farms in Athens, NY is so much more than a typical farm stand. With two balmy greenhouses, tons of plants and garden supplies, ridiculously delicious house-made cookies, loads of local food, and everything you need to make a simple-yet-delicious meal, it’s a destination-worthy shopping experience, especially on a cold and rainy spring day.
Milkwood, the soon-to-open children’s book retreat in South Kortright, NY, feels like a dream realized. For its wife-and-husband owners, illustrator and author Sophie Blackall and Ed Schmidt, a playwright and high school English teacher, that’s exactly what it is—a dream that took a whole lot of work to come to life.
Just a short drive from Hobart Book Village, they’ve transformed an old dairy farm into a place where authors, illustrators, teachers, and librarians from the can all come together and celebrate children’s literature. Today, Milkwood actually feels like walking into one of Sophie’s illustrations.
The World’s Largest Map of Ireland lives in the Emerald Isle of the Catskills. Constructed of over 170,000 bricks in 2001, this awe-inspiring map lives at the Michael J. Quill Irish Centre in East Durham. Each of the 32 counties of Ireland are represented and marked with their county flag. A bricked path bridges the gap between a map of Greene County and Ireland.
Foreland brings art studio space to Catskill. The project includes three giant old mill buildings, two of which are now connected by a floating glass pedestrian bridge, that were empty for decades before artist and developer Stef Halmos re-imagined and revitalized them to house 30 artists' studios, three art galleries, two event spaces, and two eateries.
THE ULTIMATE KID-FRIENDLY GUIDE TO THE CATSKILLS AND HUDSON VALLEY! After 5+ years of research, we’ve finally compiled all our favorite family-friendly destinations in the Catskill Mountains. This is the post you can send to your friend who is coming upstate for the first time or save for yourself to use as a Catskills day trip bucket-list. We hope it inspires many fun adventures in the months and years to come!
Where’s the best place to hike with kids in the Catskills? Easy trails, waterfalls, gorgeous views, and proximity to good food turn kid-friendly hikes into happy family memories. Here are 10 Catskills and Hudson Valley hikes we’ve experienced first-hand and loved.
