News
Walking tour highlights Hudson's colorful past
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| Andrew Amelinckx/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers Mary Ann Zimmerman, who leads a walking tour of Hudson, stands at the entrance of the historic Robert Jenkins House on Warren Street in Hudson Saturday. |
By Andrew Amelinckx
Mary Ann Zimmerman stood on Promenade Hill in Hudson while the Hudson River—brown from recent torrential rains—swiftly rolled by.
“Without the river, there would be no Hudson,” she said, looking towards the boat landing and the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park beyond.
Zimmerman, a board member of Historic Hudson, began giving a walking tour of the city in June on Saturdays and Sundays and will continue to do so through September. She said she likes to begin the tour, not with the story of Henry Hudson sailing up river or the Dutch settlers who once called the area home, but with the Proprietors, the New England whalers and manufacturers who founded Hudson.
She said in 1783, 18 men came near here to what was then called Claverack Landing and decided it was the perfect place to relocate. The American Revolution had been wreaking havoc with their business and so they decided to find an inland port, away from British war ships.
“They came with between 100 (thousand) and a half million dollars each and they didn’t mind spending it on buying up land,” she said.
It wasn’t long before Hudson, chartered in 1785, was the second biggest port in New York state, behind New York City.
“Picture the wharves,” she said. “Two dozen ships ready to ship out.” The ships would be loaded with a variety of items including produce and grain, she said.
Looking across the river she pointed out the hamlet of Athens on the west side of the Hudson. She said that there was ferry service between Athens and the city of Hudson up until 1925.
“(It) ran for over 100 years.”
Turning from the river, Zimmerman pointed out a statue surrounded by what was once a fountain and now contains flowers and other plants.
“It’s St. Winnifred.” According to Zimmerman, Winnifred was a Welsh princess who was pursued by a local prince who cut her head off when she resisted his advances.
When her head was lopped off it rolled down a hill and where it landed a “holy fount” appeared. “But that’s not the end of the story,” said Zimmerman.
According to legend her father was able to restore the soon to be saint’s head and Winnifred went on to become an abbotess of a local convent.
Hudson ended up with the statue when General J. Watts De Peyster of Tivoli offered it to the city. Apparently he had originally offered the statue to Tivoli with the caveat that a fountain be built around the sculpture. “Tivoli couldn’t come up with the $2,000 for the fountain,” she said.
The park in which the statue stands was given by the Proprietors to the people of Hudson in 1785. “They were very forward thinking,” she said.
Standing in the park looking up Warren Street Zimmerman pointed out how straight Hudson’s main thoroughfare appears.
“Henry James and Edith Wharton commented on it when they were here in 1904.”
The two famous writers ended up in Hudson, said Zimmerman, when their car broke down.
According to Zimmerman, at the time the two writers were in Hudson, things looked a lot different. There were 14 grocery stores; a men’s haberdashery; a fish store; a meat market; and a candy store, among other businesses on Warren Street.
“Now it’s all given over to antique stores and art galleries,” she said.
Walking up Warren Street she pointed out a number of historic buildings, from the Robert Jenkins house, a Federal style home that is now a museum run by the Daughters of the Revolution to the building that once housed Martin Van Buren’s law office at 401 Warren St., which is now home to the cosmetics company Face Stokholm.
Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States. “He was only one of two men who have been president, vice president and secretary of state,” she said. “The other man was Thomas Jefferson.”
Across Fourth Street where the First Presbyterian Church stands there was once a public square. “The Marquis De Lafayette spoke there during his tour of the area,” she said.
Lafayette fought on the side of the colonists during the Revolution and was a great friend of George Washington.
No tour of Hudson would be complete without a look at what is now Columbia Street but was once known as Diamond Street, and Zimmerman did not disappoint. “For 135 years this was where America came for sex and frivolity,” she remarked.
Zimmerman said there were rumors that the state senate would leave Albany early on Fridays so they could make it down to Hudson for the weekend. And when pleasure seekers came up from New York City, said Zimmerman, the train conductor would punch their ticket with a heart shaped punch.
The fun ended in the 1950’s when Thomas Dewey, the attorney general at the time, sent state troopers to shut down the pleasure palaces.
The tour isn’t merely historical. Zimmerman also discussed Hudson’s present, from such organizations as the Hudson Opera House and Time and Space Limited to two restaurants located next to each other on Warren Street—Da/Ba and Tanzy’s.
“I’ve been told they have the best BLT in Hudson,” she said of the latter. Of the former she sung the praises of their $7 hamburger. “It’s absolutely delicious,” she gushed.
Zimmerman said that Hudson has survived through the years by continually transforming itself, something she’s familiar with.
The New York City native said that she used to be the editor of six different magazines over the years, wrote a cook book for Tupper Ware that sent her around the world and worked in advertising. Currently she spends her winters in Europe, including giving historical tours in Venice, Italy.
“I’m like Hudson. I keep recreating myself.”
For more information call Zimmerman at (917) 880-6732.
“Without the river, there would be no Hudson,” she said, looking towards the boat landing and the Henry Hudson Riverfront Park beyond.
Zimmerman, a board member of Historic Hudson, began giving a walking tour of the city in June on Saturdays and Sundays and will continue to do so through September. She said she likes to begin the tour, not with the story of Henry Hudson sailing up river or the Dutch settlers who once called the area home, but with the Proprietors, the New England whalers and manufacturers who founded Hudson.
She said in 1783, 18 men came near here to what was then called Claverack Landing and decided it was the perfect place to relocate. The American Revolution had been wreaking havoc with their business and so they decided to find an inland port, away from British war ships.
“They came with between 100 (thousand) and a half million dollars each and they didn’t mind spending it on buying up land,” she said.
It wasn’t long before Hudson, chartered in 1785, was the second biggest port in New York state, behind New York City.
“Picture the wharves,” she said. “Two dozen ships ready to ship out.” The ships would be loaded with a variety of items including produce and grain, she said.
Looking across the river she pointed out the hamlet of Athens on the west side of the Hudson. She said that there was ferry service between Athens and the city of Hudson up until 1925.
“(It) ran for over 100 years.”
Turning from the river, Zimmerman pointed out a statue surrounded by what was once a fountain and now contains flowers and other plants.
“It’s St. Winnifred.” According to Zimmerman, Winnifred was a Welsh princess who was pursued by a local prince who cut her head off when she resisted his advances.
When her head was lopped off it rolled down a hill and where it landed a “holy fount” appeared. “But that’s not the end of the story,” said Zimmerman.
According to legend her father was able to restore the soon to be saint’s head and Winnifred went on to become an abbotess of a local convent.
Hudson ended up with the statue when General J. Watts De Peyster of Tivoli offered it to the city. Apparently he had originally offered the statue to Tivoli with the caveat that a fountain be built around the sculpture. “Tivoli couldn’t come up with the $2,000 for the fountain,” she said.
The park in which the statue stands was given by the Proprietors to the people of Hudson in 1785. “They were very forward thinking,” she said.
Standing in the park looking up Warren Street Zimmerman pointed out how straight Hudson’s main thoroughfare appears.
“Henry James and Edith Wharton commented on it when they were here in 1904.”
The two famous writers ended up in Hudson, said Zimmerman, when their car broke down.
According to Zimmerman, at the time the two writers were in Hudson, things looked a lot different. There were 14 grocery stores; a men’s haberdashery; a fish store; a meat market; and a candy store, among other businesses on Warren Street.
“Now it’s all given over to antique stores and art galleries,” she said.
Walking up Warren Street she pointed out a number of historic buildings, from the Robert Jenkins house, a Federal style home that is now a museum run by the Daughters of the Revolution to the building that once housed Martin Van Buren’s law office at 401 Warren St., which is now home to the cosmetics company Face Stokholm.
Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States. “He was only one of two men who have been president, vice president and secretary of state,” she said. “The other man was Thomas Jefferson.”
Across Fourth Street where the First Presbyterian Church stands there was once a public square. “The Marquis De Lafayette spoke there during his tour of the area,” she said.
Lafayette fought on the side of the colonists during the Revolution and was a great friend of George Washington.
No tour of Hudson would be complete without a look at what is now Columbia Street but was once known as Diamond Street, and Zimmerman did not disappoint. “For 135 years this was where America came for sex and frivolity,” she remarked.
Zimmerman said there were rumors that the state senate would leave Albany early on Fridays so they could make it down to Hudson for the weekend. And when pleasure seekers came up from New York City, said Zimmerman, the train conductor would punch their ticket with a heart shaped punch.
The fun ended in the 1950’s when Thomas Dewey, the attorney general at the time, sent state troopers to shut down the pleasure palaces.
The tour isn’t merely historical. Zimmerman also discussed Hudson’s present, from such organizations as the Hudson Opera House and Time and Space Limited to two restaurants located next to each other on Warren Street—Da/Ba and Tanzy’s.
“I’ve been told they have the best BLT in Hudson,” she said of the latter. Of the former she sung the praises of their $7 hamburger. “It’s absolutely delicious,” she gushed.
Zimmerman said that Hudson has survived through the years by continually transforming itself, something she’s familiar with.
The New York City native said that she used to be the editor of six different magazines over the years, wrote a cook book for Tupper Ware that sent her around the world and worked in advertising. Currently she spends her winters in Europe, including giving historical tours in Venice, Italy.
“I’m like Hudson. I keep recreating myself.”
For more information call Zimmerman at (917) 880-6732.
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