Coxsackie Is a Delightful Place to Live Along the Hudson

Coxsackie is a charming Hudson Valley town that has gone through quite the revival with new businesses and a thriving downtown. 

Former magazine editor Sarah Gray Miller has been a part-time resident of Greene County since she purchased a weekend home in Athens in 2000. But, in early 2021, she decided to move out of Manhattan, sell the Athens house (the real estate market was red hot) and open an antiques shop in Coxsackie. “I just had this sense that Coxsackie was about to become really cool, that it was an untapped jewel. It was always beautiful, but a bit of a ghost town,” she says.

Miller set her sights on a 19th-century former firehouse on South River Street and opened UnQuiet in December 2021. She added a speakeasy-style bar, Ravish Liquors, to the business early last year, and she lives in the upstairs apartment while she’s renovating a fixer-upper 10 miles south in Catskill.

Since Miller opened her antiques store, Coxsackie has welcomed many more shops and restaurants into the vintage Italianate buildings that make up the riverfront village. (The business district was established in the early 1800s when the area was industrial—shipping ice, bricks, and farm goods down the Hudson to NYC.) But Miller credits the opening of The Reed Street Bottle Shop in 2016—owned by Susan Baldaserini and Shai Kessler—as the catalyst for the revitalization.

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“When we first opened, we were one of only two retail businesses downtown, and some folks thought we were nuts,” recalls Baldaserini. “In the last eight years, we’ve gradually watched several building facades get spruced up and brought to life. While the number of shops, restaurants, and bars have doubled and even quadrupled, the relaxed, slow-paced vibe of the village remains the same,” says Baldaserini.

The James Newbury Hotel.
The James Newbury Hotel. Courtesy The James Newbury Hotel.

The town’s renaissance can also be attributed to developer and Coxsackie native Aaron Flach. His waterfront projects include the new 47-room James Newbury Hotel and adjacent Wire event center (a former 1906 cable and wire factory), and Patrick Henry’s Tavern (all finished in 2023). Up next for Flach: A three-story building in the center of town (which used to be an opera house) is being repurposed into apartments and storefronts, thanks in part from a $1.5 million New York State grant.

The Culture

The village of Coxsackie’s Council on the Arts hosts events throughout the year in Riverside Park, including a summer concert series, a weekly farmers market, an annual Riverside Festival in September, and Christmas by the River in December. Just north of the village on Route 9W lies the Coxsackie Antique Center, a 15,000-square-foot space filled with vintage goods. Art galleries, performance venues, and more can be found in nearby Catskill and Athens, and across the river in Hudson.

Family Life

Children living in the village attend schools in the Coxsackie-Athens CSD, comprised of two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. In the 2022–2023 school year, the district had a total enrollment of 1,111 students.

Heermance Memorial Library on Ely Street offers a range of programming for all ages, including weekly story times, knitting groups, yoga, and a ukulele club. West of the village off Plank Road, families can visit the 350-year-old Bronck Museum in one of the first houses in the area constructed by Dutch settler Pieter Bronck. The expansive Riverside Park, which was just renovated by the state in 2022, features a playground, gazebo, picnic tables, fishing docks, and a boat launch.

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The circa-1663 Bronck Museum, which is one of the oldest surviving homes upstate.
The circa-1663 Bronck Museum, which is one of the oldest surviving homes upstate. Courtesy of Greene County Tourism.

On the Town

For a tiny village, Coxsackie has a number of eateries to choose from. Che Figata Bistro serves up Italian food; the Day Line Oyster Bar + Kitchen offers seafood on the roof of the James Newbury Hotel; Patrick Henry’s cooks up American pub fare and pizza; The Yellow Deli is a favorite for sandwiches, soups, and salads; get a scoop or two of Jane’s Ice Cream or sorbet at Coxsackie Creamery; and visit Ravish Liquors or Shipwrecked for a nightcap. (The latter also sells books, coffee, chai or matcha lattes, and breakfast sandwiches).

In the Reed Street Historic District you’ll find Pilothouse Paper, a stationery store opened in 2017 by the owners of The Reed Street Bottle Shop. The Coxsackie General Store (formerly known as Mansion + Reed) sells groceries, coffee, craft beer, pastries, and more. And just around the corner, check out UnQuiet for curated antiques and oddities.

As a transplant herself, Miller can guarantee that you’ll be welcomed to the community with open arms. “We all hang out with people who have been here for generations—Coxsackie’s an amazingly friendly melting pot.”

To find a real estate agent in Coxsackie or any Hudson Valley town check out near-me.hvmag.com/realtors.

Related: The James Newbury Hotel Is an Idyllic Riverside Resort in Coxsackie

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