Hudson Valley

Pre-Columbian era The Hudson Valley was inhabited by indigenous peoples long before European settlers arrived. The Lenape, Wappinger, and Mahican branches of the Algonquins lived along the river, New Amsterdam later became known as New York City, Wiltwyck became Kingston, and Fort Orange became Albany. Following the building of the Erie Canal, the area became an important industrial center. The canal opened the Hudson Valley and New York City to commerce with the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. However, in the mid-20th century, many of the industrial towns went into decline. The first railroad in New York, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, opened in 1831 between Albany and Schenectady on the Mohawk River, enabling passengers to bypass the slowest part of the Erie Canal. Tourism became a major industry as early as 1810. With convenient steamboat connections in New York City and numerous attractive hotels in romantic settings, tourism became an important industry. Early guidebooks provided suggestions for travel itineraries. Middle-class people who read James Fenimore Cooper's novels or saw the paintings of the Hudson River School were especially attracted to the region. ==Geology and physiography==

The Hudson River valley runs primarily north to south down the eastern edge of New York State, cutting through a series of rock types including Triassic sandstones and redbeds in the south and much more ancient Precambrian gneiss in the north (and east). In the Hudson Highlands, the river enters a fjord cut during previous ice ages. To the west lie the extensive Appalachian Highlands. In the Tappan Zee region, the west side of the river has high cliffs produced by an erosion-resistant diabase; the cliffs range from in height. The Hudson Valley is one physiographic section of the larger Ridge-and-Valley province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division. The northern portions of the Hudson Valley fall within the Eastern Great Lakes and Hudson Lowlands Ecoregion. During the last ice age, the valley was filled by a large glacier that pushed south as far as Long Island. Near the end of the last ice age, the Great Lakes drained south down the Hudson River, from a large glacial lake called Lake Iroquois. Lake Ontario is the remnant of that lake. Large sand deposits remain from where Lake Iroquois drained into the Hudson; these are now part of the Rome Sand Plains. Due to its resemblance, the Hudson River often has been described as "America's Rhine". In 1939, the magazine Life described the river as such, comparing it to the stretch of the Rhine in Central and Western Europe. ==Major industries==

Agriculture is a nonprofit farm and educational center. The Hudson Valley has a long agricultural history and agriculture was its main industry when the region was first settled. Around the 1700s, tenant farming was highly practiced. The farms' main products were grains (predominantly wheat), though hops, maple syrup, vegetables, dairy products, honey, wool, livestock, and tobacco were produced there. The region became the breadbasket of colonial America, given that the surrounding New England and Catskills areas were more mountainous and had rockier soils. In the late 1800s, most farms transitioned from tenant farming to being family-owned, with more incentive to improve the land. Grain production moved west to the Genesee Valley, and so Hudson Valley farms specialized, especially in viticulture, berries, and orchard cultivation. Agriculture began to decline in the 19th century, and rapidly declined in the 20th century. By the 1970s, the United States' culinary revolution began, and the Hudson Valley began to lead the farm-to-table movement, the local food movement, and sustainable agricultural practices. The fertile Black Dirt Region of the Wallkill and Schoharie valleys also began to be farmed. Dairy farms are predominant, though fruit, vegetable, poultry, meat, and maple syrup production are also common. The region has experienced a resurgence in winemaking in the 21st century. Many wineries are located in the Hudson Valley, offering wine-tasting and other tours. Numerous wine festivals are held in the Hudson Valley, with themes often varying by season. Rhinebeck is home to the Hudson Valley Wine & Food Fest, hosted at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. The region has sunlight, moisture, chalky soil, and drainage conducive to grape growing, especially grapes used in Champagne. Originating in 1998 to promote the greater Albany area as a high-tech competitor to regions such as Silicon Valley and Boston, it has since grown to represent the counties in New York between IBM's Westchester County plants in the south and the Canada–US border to the north. The area's high technology ecosystem is supported by technologically focused academic institutions including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute. involving companies including IBM in Armonk and its Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, GlobalFoundries in Malta, and others. Westchester County has developed a burgeoning biotechnology sector in the 21st century, with over US$1 billion in planned private investment as of 2016, earning the county the nickname Biochester. Tourism The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area promotes historic, natural, and cultural sites in 11 counties. ==Regions==

The Hudson Valley is divided into three regions: Upper, Middle, and Lower. The following is a list of the counties within the Hudson Valley sorted by region. The Lower Hudson Valley is typically considered part of the Downstate New York region due to its geographical and cultural proximity to New York City. Lower Hudson • Putnam • Rockland • Westchester Mid-Hudson • Dutchess • Orange • Ulster Upper Hudson/Capital District • Albany • Columbia • Greene • Rensselaer ==Infrastructure==

, connecting Poughkeepsie and Highland Major interstates in the Hudson Valley include Interstate 87 (part of the New York State Thruway), a small section of Interstate 95 in Southeastern Westchester County, Interstate 287 serving Westchester and Rockland Counties, Interstate 84 serving Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange Counties, and Interstate 684 serving Westchester and Putnam Counties. Parkways in the region include the Bronx River Parkway, the Cross County Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, the Sprain Brook Parkway, and the Saw Mill River Parkway serving solely Westchester County, the Taconic State Parkway serving Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Columbia Counties, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway serving Rockland and a very small portion of southwestern Orange County. New York State Route 17 operates as a freeway in much of Orange County and will be designated Interstate 86 in the future. Hudson River crossings in the Hudson Valley region from south to north include the Tappan Zee Bridge between South Nyack in Rockland County and Tarrytown in Westchester County, the Bear Mountain Bridge between Peekskill in Westchester County and Fort Montgomery in Orange County, the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge between Newburgh in Orange County and Beacon in Dutchess County, the Mid-Hudson Bridge between Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County and Highland in Ulster County, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge between Rhinecliff in Dutchess County and Kingston in Ulster County, and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge between Hudson in Columbia County and Catskill in Greene County. The Walkway Over the Hudson is a pedestrian bridge that parallels the Mid-Hudson Bridge and was formerly a railroad bridge. NY Waterway operates the Haverstraw-Ossining Ferry between Haverstraw in Rockland County and Ossining in Westchester County, as well as ferry service between Newburgh in Orange County and Beacon in Dutchess County. Intercity and commuter bus transit are provided by Rockland Coaches in Rockland County, Short Line in Orange and Rockland Counties, and Leprechaun Lines in Orange and Dutchess Counties. There are also several local bus providers, including the Bee-Line Bus System in Westchester County and Transport of Rockland in Rockland County. The Hudson Valley is served by two airports with commercial airline service: Westchester County Airport (HPN) near White Plains and Stewart International Airport (SWF) near Newburgh. Rail service serves Amtrak intercity trains and Metro-North commuter trains. Commuter rail service in the region is provided by Metro-North Railroad (operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro-North operates three rail lines east of the Hudson River to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, from east to west they are the New Haven Line (serving southeast Westchester County), the Harlem Line (serving Central and Eastern Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties), and the Hudson Line (serving western Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties). West of the Hudson, New Jersey Transit operates two lines of rail service under contract with Metro-North Railroad to Hoboken Terminal: the Pascack Valley Line (serving central Rockland County) and the Port Jervis Line (serving western Rockland County and Orange County). Amtrak serves Yonkers, Croton-Harmon, Poughkeepsie, Rhinecliff-Kingston, and Hudson along the eastern shores of the Hudson River, as well as New Rochelle in southeastern Westchester County. ==Sports==

The Hudson Valley Renegades is a minor league baseball team affiliated with the New York Yankees. The team is a member of the Mid-Atlantic League and plays at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill. The New York Boulders of the independent Frontier League play at Clover Stadium, in Pomona, NY. Kingston Stockade FC is a soccer team representing the Hudson Valley in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), a national semi-professional league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. They compete in the North Atlantic conference of the NPSL's Northeast region, and began their first season in May 2016. == See also ==