Time Sheet: 34 Hours Antiquing in the Hudson Valley
A curated guide to shopping in the Hudson Valley- spoiler, it's not all on Warren Street.
Last weekend, my mom and I made our usual trip upstate to go antiquing. This time, rather than focusing on one area, we decided to combine as many towns and stops as we could into an overnight trip. We were long overdue for a trip and decided to maximize on every minute we had.
Friday:
7am: We left Brooklyn Heights and made the drive to East Durham, NY, our furthest stop on our trip. I brought with me a vegan chocolate coconut bun from the just-opened Swedish bakery in the neighborhood, Ferrane (by one of the co-owners of Bon Bon, the Swedish candy store).
9:30am: Arrived at The Marketplace East Durham- a rough around the edges spot that houses over 125 vendor stalls over the span of 20,000 square feet. It’s the kind of place that requires patience and sifting, but guarantees a deal.
2195 NY-145 East Durham, New York 12423
Purchased: a $5 Book on French Garden Style by Georges Leveque and Marie-Francoise Valery.
11am: Drove a few minutes down the road to A.Therien, an outpost in the northern Catskills, on a roadside family farm, that presents antique furniture, books and found objects in a deeply curated visual exhibition.
Barn, 3026 Route 23B, Cairo, New York 12413
Purchased: The Architecture of Western Gardens, MIT Press
12pm: After lulling around in A.Therien for an exceptionally long time (reason is a toss up between the visual satisfaction the space gives you, motivating you to explore every nook, cranny and intentional detail and the shop owner’s strong-personality Brussels Griffon) we arrived, 15 minutes or so down the road, at Pidgin, an antiques and objects storefront in Oak Hill, New York.
7811 Route 81 Oak Hill, New York 12460
Pidgin was a treasure trove of beautiful objects and textiles. The curation was refreshing and unique. The shop owner told me that they recently soft-launched their E-comm, so now you can browse their latest, without taking the drive.
Purchased: A small hardcover field notebook to keep in my bag at all times. I loved that it was petite, with tiny gridlines for small handwriting and wrapped in hardcover, to guarantee it doesn’t get bent and creased in your bag.
I would have loved to stop at Gardenheir and also explore Cornwallville along the way, but we didn’t have time and knew we would spend several hours at the next location.
61 NY-296 Suite 1, Windham, NY 12496
1:30pm: Pulled into the Coxsackie Antique Center and took a much-needed pause for lunch. Before leaving Brooklyn, I had prepped pasta with shaved zucchini and broccoli, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and parmigiano, with a side of crunchy, roasted chickpeas.
Coxsackie Antique Center is similar to The Marketplace in East Durham in that it is warehouse-like, with a vast array of individual vendors, but it differs in its curation slightly, offering a higher-quality assortment, as well as much more furniture. It’s similarly a place that requires patience and sifting.
12400 State Route 9W, Coxsackie, NY 12051
Purchased: An antique, solid maple dresser that I plan to repurpose as a changing table and dresser for baby-in-waiting, two c.1890-1920 footstools that I plan to reupholster in our studio’s workroom, and an antique cigar table that I plan to update by recovering the existing interior green velvet with a beautiful silk.
4:00pm: With the help of three strangers, we piled our procurements into the car and made our way to Chatham.
4:30pm: We arrived on Main Street in Chatham just in time to pop into one of my favorites, The Chatham Bookstore, before closing at 5pm.
27 Main Street, Chatham, NY 12037
Purchased: Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open and The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan.
5:15pm: Checked in at The Inn at Silver Maple Farm, a countryside bed & breakfast in East Chatham.
1871 NY-295, East Chatham, NY 12060
7pm: Dinner reservation in Old Chatham, at the Old Chatham Country Store- a farm-to-table restaurant (with a weekly rotating menu) and market place with an emphasis on local food, farms, and artisans. I ordered the OCCS Big Caesar Salad with extra virgin olive oil instead of Caesar dressing and Ricotta, Spring Vegetables & Almond Pesto (a deconstructed version of the Buckwheat Crespelle menu item), with country bread.
639 Albany Turnpike, Old Chatham, NY 12136
Saturday:
8am: Breakfast at the Inn in The Great Room. I had a coffee, yogurt with Maine blueberries, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds and a slice of vegan banana bread, made by the inn keeper, with local butter. Sat on the porch afterwards for a bit, reading Open.
9:30am: Checked out and made our way to Hudson, which was a 30 minute drive.
10am: Parked a block from Warren Street (Hudson’s Main Street) and started hitting some of the local shops. There is always turn over on Warren Street and I usually look forward to seeing what is new and what has changed since last visit. My mom was born and raised in the center of town in Hudson. While the town is very different now than it was as she remembers it, we’ve been coming to Hudson since I was in high school to shop. However, this visit in particular, I felt that there were a lot of vacancies and noticed a good number of the shops were less curated than I remembered, though a few of my tried and true favorites remained and I did love stopping by those locations.
Some spots I recommend on Warren Street & the surrounding area:
Les Indiennes, for really good textiles.
444 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Purchased: 3 lavender sachets in their block printed fabric, to put in each drawer of the antique baby dresser I purchased the day before. I have my eye on a baby quilt in their nautical textile.
STAIR Galleries, for inspiration, and to get a look at upcoming auction items.
549 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
The Maker Hotel, for atmosphere and coffee.
302 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Rebus, for chic baby and toddler clothes, accessories and toys.
337 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Olde Hudson Market & Cafe, for for provisions, something savory, or something sweet. An essential pit stop!
449 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Purchased: for the road, a pre-made orzo salad with tomatoes and scallions, a few slices of Vermont cheddar cheese from the cheese counter, taralli (always), and a French black olive tapenade spread.
The Antique Warehouse, for antique and vintage shopping at a slightly more reasonable price point than the center of town. Give yourself time here! You can easily lose the entire day browsing.
Door 21, 99 Front Street, Hudson, NY 12534
2pm: Left Hudson with the plan to stop at a few farms & markets on the way home. Meisner’s Heritage Farm Market (3771 US-9, Hudson, NY 12534) and Holmquest Farm and Greenhouse (516 Spook Rock Rd, Hudson, NY 12534) are worth pulling over for.