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Banks of the Hudson River perfect for a Romantic walk
By MARGO HAMMOND
© St. Petersburg Times,
Poets' Walk Romantic Landscape Park. Did the park, near the village of Red Hook, inspire outbursts of romantic longings, I wondered, and were there really famous poets who once walked this way? My husband and I decided to investigate. At the beginning of the park's trail we found an information arbor, constructed with criss-crossing red cedar logs fitted ingeniously together for the most part without the use of nails. Under its inviting shade, we read about the park's history, printed on four large placards. Landscaped by Hans Jacob Ehlers in 1849 for the Astors and the Delanos, the park, with its gravel path that winds and dips across 120 acres of gently rolling open fields and through sun-dappled woodland down to the Hudson, indeed was a favorite walkway of 19th-century literary figures, including an obscure poet named Fitz-Greene Halleck and the more well-known author Washington Irving. The latter is, of course, the man who not only gave us two of American literature's most memorable characters -- the scary headless horseman of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the sleepy Rip Van Winkle -- but also provided the New York Knicks with its name (one of Irving's pen names was Dietrich Knickerbocker). A poet -- Pulitzer Prize winner John Ashbery -- was even present when the land was dedicated as a public park in 1996. It is operated by the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, which has wisely obtained conservation easements on the surrounding 800 acres. The "Romantic" description of the park, however, does not refer to couples walking hand in hand along its winding paths -- although admittedly during our visit we saw only twosomes hiking the trail. Rather, Romantic or Picturesque style refers to a mode of landscaping, the information board instructed, that allowed for "improving" on the natural setting by carefully manipulating the surrounding environment. Romantic or Picturesque landscape artists created spaces and made artful use of perspectives to maximize the enjoyment of nature. In keeping with the Romantic style, for example, Ehlers built several "outdoor rooms" defined by walls of foliage along the park's trails. Dotting the landscape are stopping points, including a gazebo with latticework made from crooked cedar branches and a bench with a sunburst pattern also made from local wood, that offer a chance to stop, catch your breath, soak in the natural vistas of the valley and the Catskill Mountains beyond, and -- oh, why not? -- burst into verse. We took about 20 minutes to traverse the half-mile distance from the Information Arbor to the gazebo (called the Overlook Pavillon), where we got our first glimpse of the Hudson, a wide, steel-blue ribbon flanked by impossibly green banks. The trail then forks, and you have a choice: another 20-minute walk down to the Flagpole lot (where you can see the railroad tracks along the Hudson and more panoramic views) or a 20-minute stroll along the Poets' Walk path through cool hemlock woods. Just remember, whichever path you take, the return trip is slightly uphill, so the way back takes slightly longer. On our return trip, we stopped at the Overlook Pavillon, sitting on a bench and eating fruit from our backpack. There are no facilities in the park save the benches in the "outdoor rooms." Signs ask visitors to carry any refuse out with them. There are no trash cans in this setting. "Listen," I said to my very practical husband as we headed back to our car, walking across the final stretch of open field, "can't you just hear this landscape talking to us." "Yes," he said, much to my surprise and delight. Perhaps my first interpretation of the word romantic was not so far off the mark, after all. "What do you think it's trying to tell us?" I said softly. "Buy low and sell high," he shot back as we both dissolved in laughter. Okay, so the Poet's Walk doesn't necessarily inspire great poetry from all of us, but it does give us a greater understanding of why so many people -- the area boasts a large number of historic estates -- have found such solace in living on the banks of the Hudson River. It was not hard, in fact, to picture Irving ambling along Poet's Walk path and feeling right at home. After all, Sunnyside, his house and gardens just down the river on the Lower Hudson, were built in the same Romantic style as the park. The span over the Hudson that we were seeing from the highest point of the park was the Kingston-Rhincliff Bridge, while Irving's homestead was next to the Tappan Zee, a widening of the river. But these sentiments, written by Irving in his journal, could easily have been inspired under the cedar bowers of Poet's Walk Park: "I have made more openings by pruning and cutting down trees, so that from the piazza, I have several charming views of the Tappan Zee and the hills beyond; all set as it were in verdant frames, and I am never tired of sitting there in my old Voltaire chair, on a long summer morning, with a book in my hand, sometimes reading, sometimes musing on the landscape, and sometimes dozing and mixing all up in a pleasant dream." IF YOU GO:GETTING THERE: Poets' Walk Romantic Landscape Park, located in the town of Red Hook, Dutchess County, New York, is off Route 199, a half-mile east of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, and north on River Road. HOURS: It is open year-round, from 9 a.m. to dusk. No admission fee. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Scenic Hudson Inc., via e-mail to info@scenichudson.org, or call (845) 473-4440.
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