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A Weekend in
Columbia County
A
Hudson, NY | 518-828-4181
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38 | New York By Rail
region of history, natural beauty, and a plethora of
activities, Columbia County—just a two hour
train ride from New York City’s Penn Station—is
the perfect place for a weekend getaway. With
Amtrak you will be carried a world away from
the big city, straight into the serenity that sits east of the
scenic Hudson River.
Upon entering the historic Hudson Station, visitors can
walk a few blocks to the Information Center at the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce to get ideas for what to
do, where to eat and where to stay during their weekend
escape.
From there, art lovers can head over to the Olana State
Historic Site, one of the few intact studio and estate-complexes in the U.S., and
Olana State Historic Site
home to founder of the
Hudson River School of
Art, Frederic Edwin
Church. Visitors can
tour the historic house,
view exhibitions at the
Evelyn and Maurice
Sharp Gallery or explore
the beautiful surrounding landscape via carriage drives. Or,
visit Columbia-Greene Community College, located near
the banks of the Hudson River and bordered by the Catskill
Mountains. This SUNY institution offers concerts, plays,
lectures and other community programming at the Arts
Center Theater.
For those interested in hand-crafted spirits, visit Hillrock
Distillery. Crowned by a meticulously restored 1806
Georgian house, Hillrock Distillery overlooks rolling barley
and rye fields and the distant Berkshire Mountains. Take a
tour of the production line for their hand-crafted spirits,
made with their own floor malted grains, craft distilled in
copper pots, aged in fine oak and hand-bottled at the estate
in the Hudson Valley Highlands. Finish the tour in the
estate’s tasting room for samplings of some fine whiskey.
Looking for afternoon entertainment? Just a short scenic
ride north, in the quaint village of Chatham is the MacHaydn Theater, the area's foremost professional musical
theater, presenting new productions of classic and contemAmtrak.com