Labor Day in Cold Spring, NY – Photography, Images and Cameras

It was the morning of Labor Day and I was at a bit of a loose end when I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from my friends Tony and Safiye. They were going to Cold Spring, NY and asked me if I would like to join them. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. Thank you very much, Tony and Safiye for a great day!

Above, the Hudson House Inn where we had lunch. Built in 1827 and operated as a hotel since 1832, the Hudson House River Inn is truly a part of Hudson River history. Originally named the Pacific Hotel and later the Hudson View Inn, the building is located on the serene waterfront in the village of Cold Spring, where the famed Civil War Parrot guns were produced. One of the largest inns on the river, the Hudson House has undergone several transformations, though many original details remain. The building in it current form was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It has the distinction of being the second-oldest continuously operated inn in the state of New York.” (Hudson House Web Site).The Hudson House Inn is the blue/grey building on the right side of the picture. The building to its left if a very nice Ice Cream shop: Moo Moo’s Creamery. It bills itself as: “The World’s Best Ice Cream Shop”.

Interior shot of one of the two dining rooms: the River Room where we ate. The other one is the Half Moon Tavern. It has more of a pub-like feel with a fireplace and period dècor.

Tony and Safiye on the balcony outside the Hudson House.

Looking north along the Hudson towards Storm King State Park with Storm King Mountain itself to the right.

“Storm King is more than just a serene mountain. Its name is associated with a watershed court case that became the basis for environmental law in the United States. In the 1960s, Consolidated Edison announced elaborate plans for Storm King. They wanted to build a powerhouse at the base of the mountain, a 260 acre reservoir within Black Rock Forest, and ten-story transmission towers running across the river to Putnam County. In 1963, a small group of people met and formed the Scenic Hudson Preservation Conference. The Nature Conservancy, the New York- New Jersey Trail Conference, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association joined with Scenic Hudson to contest the project.

Finally in December 1980, a negotiated settlement was worked out, calling for Con Ed to drop its plans for the project. The outcome of the conflict established the right of citizen groups to sue a government agency to protect natural resources and scenic beauty. It set a precedent for national environmental issues dealing with the question of whether commercial developers could carry out development to meet one need at the expense of others.

In the course of extinguishing a forest fire in the park during a dry spell in the summer of 1999, firefighters encountered exploding ordnance. The ordnance had apparently been fired well over a century ago to test cannons manufactured at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, across the river, and it exploded due to the heat generated by the fire. Because of the danger presented by other unexploded ordnance, Storm King State Park was closed to the public. Subsequently, it was determined that artillery shells fired from the West Point Military Reservation may also have landed in the park. Following a clean-up of the unexploded ordnance, the park was reopened to the public in 2003.” (NY/NJ Trail Conference Website).