The New York Times
LIVING IN Stone Ridge, N.Y.: Antique Homes and Welcoming Neighbors
Known for its old stone houses and friendly vibe, this Ulster County hamlet is also conveniently located, with plenty of places to shop and beautiful scenery.
By Karen Angel
Aug. 17, 2022
Katherine Tasheff and Alec McCabe began looking to move from Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, when the youngest of their four children was halfway through college. They loved their neighborhood, but rent on their four-bedroom brownstone duplex had climbed to more than $5,000.
Last February, after a two-year search, the couple closed on an 1850s colonial in Stone Ridge, N.Y., paying $440,000. “If it hadn’t been a financial decision, we probably would have stayed,” said Ms. Tasheff, 53, an associate digital production director for NYU Langone Health. “But we weren’t earning any equity, and our mortgage is less than half our rent.”
Their three-bedroom house is on Main Street, which gives Ms. Tasheff and Mr. McCabe, 58, a sense of community and softens the blow of leaving New York City after 20 years. “We’re not isolated,” Ms. Tasheff said. “There are really interesting people around us that we meet and run into all the time. And we can still walk to get bagels on the weekend.”
Known for its Dutch Colonial houses built from local limestone, the six-square-mile Ulster County hamlet, in the town of Marbletown, is drawing new residents who appreciate its historic charm, central location and Main Street, where they can find necessities like bagels, sushi, hardware, a gym, several electric-vehicle charging stations, and even a grocery store and pharmacy.
“For a town the size of Stone Ridge, we’ve got a lot of amenities,” Ms. Tasheff said.
Laurel Sweeney, an associate broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nutshell Realty, has lived in Stone Ridge for 38 years and owns a local wine shop, Stone Ridge Wine & Spirits, with her husband, Tim Sweeney. (Mr. Sweeney is also an owner of Nutshell Realty.)
“Stone Ridge is equidistant to everything the Hudson Valley has to offer,” Ms. Sweeney, 63, said. “It doesn’t have that hustle-bustle like some of the other towns that are very popular, such as New Paltz and Woodstock. It has a more relaxed quality of life. I say to people, ‘If you want to wear black clothes and pay high prices for everything, go to Rhinebeck. If you want to wear blue jeans and a cap on your head and hang out at a farm, go to Stone Ridge.’”
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Nestled between the Shawangunk Mountains to the east and the Catskills to the west, Stone Ridge offers sweeping mountain views, expanses of pasture, wooded roads with bear-crossing signs, long driveways and tall privacy fences.
It is one of the few places in the mid-Hudson Valley where you can still find an 18th-century stone house on 125 acres. Antique stone houses line the hamlet’s Main Street, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the best-known are the Hasbrouck House, built in 1757, now an inn with an upscale restaurant, Butterfield, and the Wynkoop House, a private residence built in 1767, where George Washington once stayed.
“You see all the history around you, which is incredible and mind-boggling,” Ms. Clendening said. “It’s secluded enough that I would have peace of mind if my kids are out playing in the backyard, but if you really need to go to the grocery store or the pharmacy, you can get there in five to 10 minutes.”
The outdoors also beckons. Scenic trails wind through nearby Minnewaska State Park Preserve and the Mohonk Preserve. The 27-mile O&W Rail Trail, a favorite of bikers and walkers, runs through the hamlet. Kayakers and canoeists paddle on the Esopus Creek to the northwest and the Rondout Creek to the east. Stone Ridge Orchard offers apple picking, has a farm stand and holds events, and Davenport Farms operates a small market on the hamlet’s northern outskirts.
As for cultural offerings, SUNY Ulster community college and the Stone Ridge Public Library hold concerts, art exhibits and other events, and the nonprofit Stone Ridge Library Foundation organizes popular fund-raisers. Marbletown Multi-Arts, known as MaMA, offers a concert series; dance, music and tai chi classes; and a weekly community gathering.
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The History
One of Ulster County’s oldest areas, Marbletown was settled in 1669 by a group of English soldiers who took control of the region from the Dutch, according to the Marbletown Historic Preservation Commission. They were followed by Dutch settlers who mined local limestone to build stone houses.
Stone Ridge had a few other names before it was named in 1832 for the ridge of limestone that lies beneath it, according to a short history of Stone Ridge written in 1958 by William W. Davenport, a lifelong resident.
The area’s major industry was once farming, but by the 1870s, the hamlet’s commercial district was lined with shops, hotels and stone, Federal and Greek Revival houses, including the stone building that the library now occupies. Main Street’s location along a major transportation route from the Delaware Water Gap area to Kingston, N.Y. — known as Kings Highway in the 18th century, Old Mine Road in the 19th century and Route 209 today — helped fuel the growth.
Read full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/realestate/stone-ridge-ny-antique-homes-and-welcoming-neighbors.html
Image: A bedroom in the Wynkoop House furnished with antiques. The home is available to rent on Airbnb.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times