Day: October 5, 2025

Columbia County and Western Dutchess County are fascinating places and have been as such for a long time. They are home to some of the Hudson Valley’s best farm lands but also some of wealthiest residents outside of city, brought up there by the scenic Taconic Parkway which has beckoned the wealthy north with scenic views and cheaper, beautiful land ever since it was constructed in the 1920s through the 1960s.

There is some real money in the hills there, just beyond the pungent apple and dairy country in the flatlands above the river. Hamlets with boutique stores with their hand painted signs and custom desserts, lunches and brews. Small businesses, but catering to the yuppie and wealthy up from the city. Not the crowd who wants cheap but function and shops at Wally World but seeks style and appeal to their senses.

It’s kind of a werid place. Both rural and charming but also much of the values of urbane and chic. While there are some run down houses and even trailer parks, much of the land is stylish rural houses and even farms that have been styled to bring in the tourist shopper, rather then working the land primarily. It’s kind of a werid feeling compared to what you might find in more deep rural regions, such as Northern Pennsylvania or some place like Chenango and Madison County NY, where the focus is in on working the land more than making something truly beautiful.