Rhinecliff: The Tangled Tale of Rhinebeck's Waterfront, A Hudson River History

Located midway between New York City and Albany on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, the community of Rhinecliff (originally Kipsbergen) was one of New York State s first permanent settlements (1686). This fascinating riverfront hamlet historically has been overshadowed by its upstreet, inland rival the politically more powerful village of Rhinebeck and the bustling port of Rondout (now Kingston) directly across the river. Surrounded by the grand estates of the Astors, Livingstons, and Beekmans, modest Rhinecliff was long overlooked; nevertheless, it has carved out its own unique identity from its scenic rocky perch in Dutchess County overlooking the Hudson River. Author Philip in her copiously illustrated (130 photographs, drawings, and maps) book untangles the tale of Rhinecliff/Kipsbergen s long history from early Native Americans and the 1686 land deal that paved the way for settlement, to colonial Kingston burning on the horizon and British warships anchored off its docks, through the heydays of steam navigation on the Hudson and the coming of the railroads, the slow collapse of the great estates and the 20th-century decline of riverfront communities all along the Hudson, right up to the 21st-century rebirth of the Hudson River towns and the land-use battles that rage as fiercely today as any other conflict in the long history of the Hudson Valley. Through it all Philip paints a vivid portrait, filled with fascinating detail and extraordinary characters, of a proud, independent community with a sense of place like no other.