Cold Spring

Cold Spring is an utterly charming, eclectic and lively little scenic Hudson River village within the parent town of Philipstown in Putnam County, NY. It is filled with really nice homes of varying architecture including Victorians, Colonials, row-houses, more modern affairs and condos. There is a plethora of stuff to do, goodies to eat and history to sop up. Not to mention tons of great photographs just waiting to happen.

There are a ton of great restaurants in the village including Cold Spring Depot, Plumbush Inn & Restaurant, Riverview Restaurant, Silver Spoon Restaurant & Bar, Whistling Whillie’s American Grill, Angelina’s Restaurant & Pizza, Cold Spring Pizza, Brasserie Le Bouchon, Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill, East Side Kitchen, Foundry Café, Hudson House Inn, Main Course, Main Moon and Nick and Angie’s.

The historic Main Street district of Cold Spring is brimming with interesting and eclectic boutiques and shops and one could spend an entire delightful afternoon sauntering around and poking through The Beeswax Shop, Back in Ireland, The Country Touch, The Garden Studio, Romeo and Juliet, Silver Lady, Stationery Objects, Touch of Nostalgia, Shug, Momminia, Merritt Bookstore Volume II, Outdoor Sports, St. Claire Boutique and Knittingsmith and Indigo Chic, to name but a few.

For your grocery shopping needs and wants, Cold Spring is home to Grand Union supermarket, Food Town, Yannitelli Wines Philiptown Farm Market, Pete’s Hometown Grocery, D P Mart and Maison Glass Delicacies.

As for local arts and entertainment, you have the Philipstown Depot Theatre located in Garrison Landing which is a local performing arts center which hosts plays, festivals, films and classes for young and older alike.

Philipstown has a decent parks and recreation department with a nice array of events and programs including but not limited to a cool indoor tot park, Little Sluggers, Junior Nature Explorers, t-ball, a Fairytale Theatre, Beading Bonanaza, Nature Scouts, Junior Fire Academy, day camps, Foot in Mouth Players for teens, a Youth Employment service for teens, teen travel camps, adults-only classes like flower design and dance, family bingo and pasta nights, dog obedience instruction, classes in cooking and clayworks, mah jongg for seniors, a senior spring lunch and senior bus trips.

There are some seriously stunning parks in the region including Clarence Fahnestock State Park which boasts 14, 086 acres and harbors a beautiful beach, picnic areas, wonderful hiking trails, a nice campground, boating, hunting, fishing and birding. Hudson Highlands State Park is a fantastic mostly undeveloped (thankfully) 6,000 acre preserve with a famous trail called Breakneck Ridge, which was even featured in Newsweek. The park has absolutely breathtaking views of West Point and the Hudson River.

The Garrison Golf and Country Club is located in Garrison and boasts an 18-hole golf course on its 300 acre location. It also has a stunning inn popular with wedding parties and a salon, the yoga co-op and gym, The Terrace Restaurant and The Worlds End Bar. You can also visit the Hudson Highlands Country Club, also in Garrison which is proud of its Tavern and the Garrison Farm where organic herbs and veggies are grown.

Another Garrison area bragging right is the divine Boscobel Restoration, a magnificent example of New York Federal Domestic architecture. Visitors can tour the home and saunter the gorgeous gardens. It is also where the superb Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is held during the summer. Exceptional acting is backdropped by the magnificent Hudson River. Boscobel also hosts a Taste of Boscobel, Yoga with a View on summer Monday’s, an annual Snapping Turtle Walk, the Great American Concert & Picnic and the upcoming tongue in cheek and throat presentation on historic cocktails also known as “How to Get Tipsy in the 1800’s.”

Also, very cool is the trolley that takes folks along a point of interest-route from Cold Spring to Garrison. There is a museum tour and a nature lover’s tour.

The popular Hudson Valley Outfitters is located in Cold Spring and it is the popular area resource to get equipment and instruction for canoeing or kayaking on the glorious Hudson River.

There is a Metro North train station in Cold Spring and commute time to NYC is anywhere between one hour and twelve minutes and one hour and twenty minutes.

Cold Spring students are a part of the Garrison Union Free School District which is very good.

Cold Spring is quite safe and the crime rate is relatively low.

The median household income is around $53,382.

The population of Cold Spring is approximately 1,983.

Cold Spring in Hudson Valley is a picturesque town with a active main street and spell-binding views. Main street is filled with restaurants and antique shops and all of it invites visitors to linger and browse and enjoy a warm summer day. As you walk down further and takes the stairs down to the lower half of Main Street you will walk toward the Hudson River with the towering mountain rising behind it. The street is lined with many benches along the way, an indication of the visitor-friendly ambience of this section of Cold Spring As some others have mentioned parking can be a challenge on weekends when the weather is good. But usually the side streets offer options and it is great to see the more residential aspect of this town also.

The lots near the downtown are small but the houses are extremely well-maintained and there is a overall sense of neighborliness and community in Cold Spring. In many ways, it reminded me of places like Carmel in California - the street lined with antique stores and restaurants and the many couples walking hand-in-hand may have had something to do with it!


While I only know Cold Spring as a weekend visitor, there are quite a few inns and B&B's here indicating that there are many folks who come to spend some time in this lovely town. It is a great place to plan a romantic get-away or a girls weekend out.

From all that I hear, Cold Spring is also great for residents. A small and active local government with an involved citizenry means that there is a great sense of community pride. The schools are good and the public amenities are excellent. Housing is cheaper than some places further down south and there is still a direct train connection to New York City.

Whether you are considering a place to move or checking out a Hudson River town to visit, Cold Spring should be on your list. Even if you choose to not live here, you'll not regret spending a day scouting out the real estate here!

Cold Spring is a lovely town that’s preserved its 19th century colonial charm. All you have to do is walk down the town’s main street to understand why people like to live in Cold Spring. The Main Street, and its splitting side streets, are populated with quaint shops and Victorian or Gothic style houses, which can leave one feeling like they’ve stepped back in time. There’s many clothing, consignment and antique shops for browsing, and you never know what you’ll find when you come here; that being said, Cold Spring is a collector’s dream, and lovers of history will feel right at home.

The town was once a battery used by nearby West Point, and so has played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. It was also a booming iron industry. Today, people come to shop on Main Street and hang out in coffee shops like Capuccino Cafe for excellent coffee, ice cream and baked goods. There’s also Sweet Dreams Cafe and Frozenberry Frozen Yogurt and Cafe, if you still have a sweet tooth and want to keep the good times coming. All the amenities in town are within walking distance, and there’s even a lemonade stand by the town’s train station on weekends, where you can find a homemade lemonade to cool yourself off on hot summer days. For bookworms, Merritt Bookstore is the place to be---they have a wonderful selection and the store has a warm, cozy feel (unlike most chain bookstores, this one has a homespun ambiance that die-hard book lovers will love). For lovers of old, there’s so many antique stores in Cold Spring that it will dazzle your mind, and you won’t know where to shop first! Try Silver Ladies for funky findings, or Other Oldies Antiques and Jewelry on the southern side of Main Street.

Hungry? Cold Spring has wonderful restauants, from romantic and ethnic Brasserie Le Bouchon, a French bistro-style restaurant, or the Cold Spring Depot, which the whole family will love (try their ice cream; I recommend the French Onion Soup coupled with The Depot Sandwhich!)

Cold Spring schools offer a fantastic education with a high graduation success rate. The town has a train which makes commuting easy and fun, as there’s plenty of places to unwind right when you get off the train after a hard day in the city. The town is very safe and housing is fair for middle-class areas (around $500,000 to own a home).

If you love a town with sidewalk streets and an old-world charm, complete with excellent shopping choices and places you won’t find most anywhere else, then Cold Spring is the town for you!

Walking through the village of Cold Spring is like going back in time, with interesting shops, antique stores, and restaurants lining Main Street, and not a chain store to be found. The street slopes down toward the Hudson River to a lovely gazebo and park, the setting for many summer gatherings and concerts. Storm King mountain, which inspired the environmental movement, looms across the river; and on certain early mornings, mist rises from the water, shrouding the distant neo-Gothic buildings of West Point in mystery.

Cold Spring is a classic small Hudson Valley town, where almost everyone knows everyone else, and family mishaps are quickly addressed with neighborhood fundraisers and deliveries of casseroles. Some may find the small-town atmosphere stifling, but those who stay revel in it. There are all kinds of town-sponsored events, and residents have a definite say in town government. Halloween is a cherished holiday, with one neighborhood engaging in a yearly decorating arms race; before Christmas, Santa sits atop a firetruck and cruises around town, waving at the crowds.

The North Highlands of Cold Spring is more rural, with long-established lakeside communities and mountain retreats. There are spectacular hikes to Scofield Ridge, Bull Hill, and Breakneck Ridge; canoes and kayaks may be rented at Hudson Valley Outfitters, right in town, and trips taken through local marshes and on the river. For the less outdoorsy, there is a lively music and art scene, and social events that revolve around the many non-profits in the area.

There are several very good pre-schools in the area, and Cold Spring’s Haldane School runs from kindergarten through 12th grade. While Main Street is more tourist-driven, a small shopping area on Rt 9D (a short walk away) supplies the locals with necessities. Those who want larger supermarkets, commercial stores, or malls must travel north to Fishkill, Wappingers Falls or Poughkeepsie.

Metro-North stops right at the end of Main Street, making Cold Spring a destination point for many New Yorkers looking for a car-less day trip (which is wise, because you cannot park in the village on a beautiful weekend!) Quite a few eventual residents arrived for a day trip, fell in love with the town, and left the city behind.

Cold Spring is probably the most picturesque village in Putnam County. Legend holds that the town’s name was granted after George Washington drank from the local waters, but no one knows for sure if this is accurate. In the early 1800s, an iron foundry was built, resulting in a surge of growth. Workers and their families needed homes, shops, schools and churches, and a village was born.

Two hundred-plus years later, Cold Spring is much loved by residents and visitors alike. The Hudson River forms its western boundary, and lends additional beauty to an already lovely area. The views of the river are stunning and unspoiled. Storm King Mountain and the Hudson Highlands are visible from Cold Spring’s waterfront, and the United States Military academy at West Point sits to the south.

The village is steeped in history. Two hundred well-preserved 19th century buildings in the main village area are on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic homes and small inns also line Main Street and its adjacent blocks. Main Street is a terrific place to shop, especially for antiques and specialty items. Other unique stores, cafés and restaurants, casual and more upscale, line the street, but there’s not a chain store or Starbucks in sight. The Cold Spring Farmers Market, one of the largest in the area, runs year-round, indoors from November to April and outdoors from May to October. It draws locals and visitors alike. Weekends in the village are very busy, with parking spaces at a premium.

The housing possibilities vary. There are modest condominiums and larger old houses, some fantastically maintained, some not. Prices and taxes vary depending on the house; they are high but still lower than comparable homes in Westchester. Young families are settling here, drawn to the small and excellent Haldane Central School District, but Cold Spring is also home to weekenders from the city seeking an escape from the hustle of Manhattan. The town has a Metro-North station, with trip times from Grand Central averaging about an hour and ten minutes during peak hours.

Cold Spring is worth a visit, whether you’re thinking about moving here or just want to check out a unique riverside village.