Poughkeepsie, NY
 

Traveling to Poughkeepsie this weekend any advice for restaurants or places to visit?

Jo,

Where in POK will you be? I can give you a bunch of restaurant recommendations for Dutchess county, south of POK, but they might not be convenient. Anything south of POK, name your style and price point and I'll give you a list.

Re visting, what kind of things are you interested in doing and how far do you want to drive? If you give me a few ideas I can give you my local list.

historic houses/mansions
hiking trails
winery tour
county fair (this weekend in Rhinebeck)
antique shopping
farm markets
bake shops
swimmin holes

We will be near the colleges on Rt9 and are interested in historic homes antique shopping and fine food!

jobeach: The three dinning rooms J62 refers to are all at CIA. I would have the same order of recommendation. They do a very nice dinner as you might imagine.
You will be very close to the little village of Rhinebeck which is a lot of fun if you like Early Americana. The Beekman Arms Inn is an authentic Early American Inn, is beautiful and offers fine dinners (breakfast and lunch as well). The dinning rooms are very Early American and, if you want to stay there, the rooms are fantastic.
Kingston has a lot of antique shops, a scenic town center and many good restaurants as well. This is a great area for touring, so allow yourself plenty of time.
Poughkipsie has fallen into disrepair. The major industries left years ago and the city has never recovered. I say that not having been there in about four years. Have a great trip.

Restaurants:
Rhinebeck: Beekman Arms (listed above), Terrapin

Wappingers Falls (about 15min S of Marist): Aroma Osteria (just off Rt 9) - excellent Italian. Inn at Osborne Hill - a few mi off Rt 9 - excellent meats, etc.

Antiques.
Rhinebeck or Millbrook.

Historic Homes.
3 mansions plus the Sam Morse house.
1. Vanderbilt - the largest, fanciest of the mansions.
2. FDR - includes also the FDR library
3. Mills Mansion (never toured, but great sleigh riding hill!)
4, Samual Morse house - south of POK on Rt 9. Not worth a detour but ok to stop in if you're passing by.

You can also walk the grounds & woods of all 3. They are along the Hudson River, but there is no close up waterfront (RR Track are in the way).

If it's nice out, I recommend you pick up a picnic lunch at a local deli or supermarket on Rt 9 (there's a stop & shop in the vicinity of FRD - i think it's betw CIA & FDR), tour either Vanderbilt or FDR then spread out a towel or blanket and enjoy the weather & views.

There are also a bunch of good restaurants in Millbrook but I don't know any specific ones to recommend.

Millbrook is about a 20min drive East of Rt 9, but it's a nice rural drive. The Millbrook winery is fun to visit if you're out & about. They actually have some pretty good wines and are very friendly, & offer a quick tour of vineyards & wine prep area + tasting.

Beware of possible traffic on Rt9 in Rhinebeck this weekend (8/27/05) due to Dutchess County Fair. It won't be horrendous, but if you hit a backup you'll at least know what it is.

So after thinking about it a bit while writing this reply and reading other posts, I would recommend take a drive N from the colleges on Rt 9, hit any sights you want to, cross over the river at Rhinebeck, then mosey south through Kingston, and cross back over the bridge into POK.