6 Best Sights in Kingston, Hudson Valley

Antiques dealer Fred J. Johnston rescued this 1812 Federal mansion from the wrecking ball in the 1930s; the Friends of Historic Kingston inherited the house in 1993 through Johnston's will. His collection of 18th- and 19th-century Hudson Valley furniture and decorative arts is on display as well as a Friends of Historic Kingston gallery that features different local history exhibits which change every year.

Models, artifacts, and photographs illustrate the region's maritime history. Changing exhibits show tugboats and antique fishing and sailing craft. You may board the Half Moon, a replica of Henry Hudson's ship, when it's in dock. Tours to the Rondout Lighthouse (also known as the Kingston Lighthouse) leave from the museum's dock.

This working microbrewery offers free tours and tastings. (Stout fans should try Mother's Milk.) It also holds quarterly rock concerts, either in the brewery itself or in the parking lot, and functions as a gallery and performance space.

The church was established in 1659, and a small wooden building was erected in 1661. It was burned down in 1663, during the Second Esopus War. Today's church (the third at the site) went up in 1852 and features an 1891 window made by the Tiffany Studios. George Clinton (first governor of New York and vice president under Thomas Jefferson) and a number of Revolutionary War soldiers are buried in the graveyard. Guided tours of the cemetery, sanctuary, and museum are offered by appointment.

The museum stands on the site of the eastern terminal of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, which ran from Kingston through the Catskills and was affectionately known as the Up & Down Railroad. Trolley cars dating from 1907 are on display; trolley tours of historic Kingston leave from the museum.

New York's first constitution was drafted on this site in 1777, in an earlier building. Then its first chief justice, John Jay, was sworn in in that courthouse. Shortly thereafter, in the same year, the British burned down Kingston; the current courthouse was built in 1818. Sojourner Truth was freed in 1826, and she immediately—and successfully—sued, in this courthouse, to have her son freed from slavery in Alabama. The courthouse is open to the public while court is in session between 8:30 and 4:30 on weekdays. No photography is allowed.