Town of the Week

Kingston, New York
February 24, 2001
(rebroadcast from February 1, 1997)

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Hard by the Hudson, this river front town has been designated an Urban Cultural Park by the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation. Kingston was the first capitol of New York, and the states first constitution was adopted here. This town of 25,000 has evolved from a trading post to colony, to village to city, and it architecture spans early Dutch to Italianate and Second Empire.

There are three parts to Kingston, Rondout on the Hudson River, which is developed as a turn-of-the-last-century waterfront area; Midtown with its Ulster Performing Arts Center; and Uptown which includes the original stockade district and is rich in pre-revolutionary war buildings and sites. These include the Senate House Mansion with its authentic Dutch Colonial furnishings.

There are lots of old prints in the Firemen's Museum, nautical artifacts in the Maritime Museum, and trolley cars in the Trolley Museum. The town celebrates the annual Shad Run each May with the Shad Festival. It’s a town with a unique four corners; the last intersection in the country with buildings from the 18th century at each corner...and it's our Town of the Week, Kingston, New York.