A View of Our Beautiful Area From Overlook Mountain's Fire Tower

This view is looking Southeast towards the city of Kingston (pop. 30,000), the county seat of Ulster County. Not quite visible off to the right (down the Hudson River) is the city of Poughkeepsie (pop. 45,000), the county seat of Dutchess County. Dutchess County is across the Hudson River. "Kingston", the first capital of New York State, is an English name^[1], from "King's Town", and "Poughkeepsie" (pronounced "Po KIP see"^[2]) is a Native American (Wappinger Indian) name.^[3] The Hudson River is tidal all the way up to the city of Troy (about 150 miles/241 km north of New York City). The "Salt Point", where the river's water begins to turn from fresh to brackish, varies with tide and river flow, but is usually somewhere around Poughkeepsie. One of the bridges across the Hudson is visible in this photo: the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, carrying NY 199 between the Town of Ulster and Rhinecliff on the far side. Other notable local bridges link Poughkeepsie with the Hudson's west (right) bank: the now-unused 1885 railroad bridge at Poughkeepsie, considered an engineering landmark and recently reopened as a pedestrian walkway; and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge, a 1932 suspension bridge. Speaking of FDR, his estate at Hyde Park is just north (left) of Poughkeepsie (but out of this photo). In the mid and late 19^th centuries, many palatial estates and mansions were built on both sides of the Hudson River.

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1. City of Kingston
2. Hudson River
3. former Town of Woodstock Landfill (not a golf course!)
4. Town of Rhinecliff
5. Dutchess County
6. Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge (New York 199)

• ^[1]  Originally named “Wiltwyck” by the Dutch. The waterfront shares its Dutch name with the Rondout Creek.
• ^[2]  Quite a few years ago, I heard a promo on a local radio station that went something along the lines of, “Hey! This is Steven Tyler and you’re listening to Aerosmith on One-Oh-One-Point-Five W-P-D-H, Pow… Po… Paw… da… di… what the hell, is this thing for real?!” It only played once or twice (I think the artist's management was embarrassed and recalled the promo).
• ^[3]  Meaning roughly "where the fresh spring flows into the river" (according to one accepted translation). Another explanation is that it comes from U-puku-ipi-sing, meaning "reed-covered lodge by the little water place".

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Last updated Wed, 20 Jul 2022 at 11:09 PM

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