Tip of The Day

Explore Kingston's Hidden Stockade District Courtyards

Most visitors walk the Stockade District's main streets and miss the quiet courtyards and alleyways tucked between the historic stone buildings. Today, slow down and peek between structures along Wall Street and North Front Street — you'll find small garden spaces, original 17th-century stonework, and occasionally local artists displaying work outside their studios. These pockets are easy to overlook at a normal walking pace.

Make it a game: see how many distinct courtyards or passageways you can find in a single afternoon. Locals use them as shortcuts, and striking up a conversation with a resident you meet along the way often leads to the best off-menu recommendations for where to eat or what's happening that evening in the Rondout waterfront area.

Kingston, N.Y. is weighing a major overhaul of its sidewalk network — and a packed public meeting at City Hall made clear the stakes are high on all sides.

The city's health and wellness director presented a study aimed at bringing sidewalks into ADA compliance, expanding them into neighborhoods that have none, and possibly shifting repair costs away from property owners.

But the session quickly surfaced a deep divide: residents passionate about preserving Kingston's historic hand-carved bluestone sidewalks clashed with wheelchair users who described the uneven stones as outright barriers to independence.

"There has to be a line between historic preservation and usefulness," one wheelchair user told the crowd. The city says bluestone will remain part of the conversation as the study moves forward.

Interesting Facts

Kingston, New York has a surprisingly layered history that most visitors walk right past.

• Burned to the ground — on purpose: In October 1777, British forces under General John Vaughan deliberately torched nearly every building in Kingston, making it one of the most complete destructions of an American town during the Revolutionary War. The city had been New York's first state capital for only a few months before the attack.
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• A cement empire: Kingston and the surrounding Hudson Valley once produced the majority of the natural cement used to build major American landmarks, including the base of the Statue of Liberty. The region's unique "rosendale cement" was considered superior to Portland cement for certain applications well into the 20th century.
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• Two downtowns by design: Kingston is one of the few American cities with two distinct, officially recognized historic downtown districts — the Stockade District and the Rondout waterfront — each with its own architectural character, separated by about a mile and connected by a trolley that ran until 1929.
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• The Senate convened in a tavern: After the British burning, New York's first state senate met in a local tavern to conduct emergency government business, making Kingston briefly home to one of the most improvisational legislative sessions in American history.
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• A blues legend's quiet home: Guitarist and songwriter Paul Butterfield, a foundational figure in American electric blues, spent his final years living quietly in Kingston, far removed from his Chicago and festival fame, and died there in 1987.

Kingston Calling: Battle of the Bands is coming to Assembly in Kingston, NY, on Friday, August 28th — and band submissions are open now.

The inaugural competition invites original, multi-member bands with at least one Ulster County resident to vie for a standout prize package, including studio time at Utopia Studios Bearsville, an on-air feature on Radio Woodstock 100.1 WDST, a professional editorial photo session, and more.

A heavyweight panel of judges will decide the winner, featuring renowned bassist Gail Ann Dorsey (longtime David Bowie collaborator), guitarist Grasshopper of Mercury Rev, and Hudson Valley producer and sound engineer Pete Caigan.

No covers, no solo acts — just bold, original music competing for the crown.

Kingston, NY is buzzing with events this summer. The Arts Society of Kingston kicks things off with three distinct exhibitions opening July 4, exploring surrealism, hidden realities, and the art of seeds — with a reception the evening of July 3 at 97 Broadway.

Beyond the gallery, the city offers something for every taste: a lecture series on New York's revolutionary-era discoveries, a glittering Boudoir Blues Burlesque Summer Fest blending smoky jazz and vintage cabaret, and Maddie's Secret, a story following a dishwasher's unlikely leap to viral superstardom.

It's shaping up to be a lively season in the Hudson Valley.

Robotic lawn mowers are getting a serious upgrade. The ECOVACS Goat A3000 LiDAR PRO handles yards up to three-quarters of an acre without any boundary wires, using dual-LiDAR navigation to map and mow on its own.

A built-in TruEdge edge trimmer tackles borders that most robotic mowers miss, while a 7,500 mAh battery with 189W fast charging keeps downtime short. Smart app control lets you schedule and monitor everything from your phone — no weekend pushing required.

The Hudson Valley has long prided itself on clean air — but a growing network of scientists and community advocates says the region has been flying blind. Researchers at Bard College's Community Sciences Lab recently helped Ulster County install 22 street-level air-quality sensors at libraries and town halls, making it the first county in New York to build a community-based monitoring network of its kind.

One of the biggest surprises? Wood smoke — from fire pits, woodstoves, and backyard burns — may rival traffic and industry as a leading source of fine-particle pollution, especially during temperature inversions that trap air in valley neighborhoods.

Advocates like Kingston teacher-turned-researcher Lorraine Farina compare public awareness of wood smoke to where secondhand cigarette smoke stood decades ago. The data, they say, is just beginning to reveal the air we actually breathe.

Joke Of The Day

Someone asked me what it's like living in Kingston, NY, where the Catskills meet the Hudson River.

I said, "It's great — the mountains give you humility and the river gives you direction, so basically it's cheaper than therapy."