Google, NY Waterway, and the MTA MetroNorth Railroad have finally heeded my repeated requests to have the Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry schedule added to Google Transit Directions! Enjoy using the transit app now; Haverstraw is finally and legitimately linked to the region.
In Cleveland, local residents installed bike lanes and street furniture along a particularly desolate street in order to enliven their city with a more pedestrian friendly atmosphere. In the past I’ve written about pop-up urbanism as a way to create sense of place in a downtown area and spark a new interest among residents in using the street as a place to meet, exercise, relax, and be human. Tactical urbanism is a new phase of downtown citizen activism, where residents take matters into their own hands and reclaim the streets for people. Would something similar work along Main, New Main, or Broadway in downtown Haverstraw? See the short film below to catch my drift:
Bella Rose Lasagna - Borrowed from the UN of Food
A feisty food blogger from the United Nations of Food (one small man’s attempt to eat food from every country without leaving NYC ) took a weekend excursion with his fiance to Haverstraw where he was admittedly “shocked” by the wide selection of uber-awesome, unpretentious, Hudson Valley, non-yuppie, blue collar Latin/Italian, etc. food. Several times he exclaims in as many ways as he can: “And guess what? I had it all wrong. Haverstraw, formerly known as the brickmaking capital of the world, is a mostly working-class town, featuring a gravel mine and a gigantic oil-fired power plant. No silly, pretentious food here. Not even in the prettiest cafe in town.” That pretty cafe he mentions? Well, that’s the Bella Rose Cafe on New Main Street. And where did they sleep while staying in the Village? In the best bed and breakfast in the County, the Bricktown Inn on Hudson Avenue. (more…)
“We realized that if we were going to live in NYC it would have be in the West Village or Chelsea or something. Obviously, that’s cost prohibitive. So, we just decided to live in Haverstraw.” — Anonymous Brooklyn Transplant
A trip across the widest part of the Hudson River from Haverstraw, New York to the Ossining, New York MetroNorth train station. At the train station in Ossining, you can catch a train into Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan or points north. The whole trip to Grand Central, including the ferry ride, takes about 1 hour.
It is possible to work in Rockland County and use the ferry to get there from Westchester, NYC, or points north. Check the ferry schedule, which conveniently lists reverse directions and when the ferry departs or arrives at Ossining or Haverstraw. More and more commuters are using the ferry to “reverse commute.” The ferry can also be used to get to White Plains, believe it or not. Once you arrive in Ossining, wait for the 11, 13, or 14 Bee Line Bus directly to White Plains: map here.
Much has been said, filmed, recorded, and written about High Tor Mountain since it was first spotted by Henry Hudson’s crew (and before that, maybe Verazzano’s crew, and before that Native Americans. . .). High Tor Mountain is the crowning peak of the Palisades Escarpment, the network of volcanic rock cliffs and peaks that extends from Staten Island to Pomona, New York – a 30-mile stretch. Most iconic are the vertical cliffs of the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, which begin in Hoboken and continue nearly to Sneden’s Landing and Piermont. (more…)
