West Park, New York

West Park is a hamlet on the west side of the Hudson River in the Town of Esopus, Ulster County, New York, United States. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area became attractive to the well-to-do seeking second homes because it provided privacy, clean water and relatively inexpensive property.

In the last census, West Park recorded a total of 547 residents: 271 males and 276 females. Thirty-eight percent of households in West Park contain children. The median age of the male population is 42.3 and the female population is 42.5. The median annual household income is $84,079.^[1] The average high temperature in July is 80.5 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 17.1 degrees. The USDA Hardiness Zone is 5B (-20 °F to -15 °F).

A great deal of land in West Park, much of which borders the Hudson River, is either protected by conservation organizations like Scenic Hudson or owned by religious orders, making available homes in the hamlet scarce and highly sought after. In 2023, the New York Times opined that although the hamlet has some very expensive homes, "the wealth here is quiet."^[2]

The ZIP code for West Park is 12493.

Some notable residents included: John Jacob Astor, Mother Cabrini, General Daniel Butterworth, Robert Livingston Pell, John Burroughs, Col. Oliver Hazard Payne,^[3]financier and philanthropist Archibald Russell, the founder of Ulster Savings Bank and father of Archibald D. Russell, Harry Payne Bingham, John Jewell Smith and later his daughter Hilda Worthington Smith, architect Matthias Hollwich, boxer Floyd Patterson, and show business celebrities Connie Ray, Joe Langworth, Peter Dinklage, Sebastian Roché, Blair Ross and Frances McDormand.

AbolitionistSojourner Truth was enslaved by John Dumont on his farm overlooking the Hudson in West Park. In 1826, she began her famous walk to freedom from Floyd Ackert Road in West Park to the home of Isaac Van Wagenen in the nearby hamlet of St Remy.^[4] A plaque behind the current West Park Post Office memorializes the spot from which Sojourner Truth escaped slavery in West Park.

Holy Cross Monastery,^[5] an Anglican monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross, is located in West Park, as is the Cabrini home founded by Roman Catholic Saint Frances Cabrini.

The Marist Brothers occupy a large portion of Hudson River-fronted acreage in West Park on the former Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate. The Payne home, known as Omega, a 42,000 square foot historically significant mansion of the Gilded Age, is now operated by Marist College as the Raymond A Rich Leadership Institute.^[6] Payne's West Park mansion was faced with imported French limestone and built around a huge central courtyard lined with frescoes. The mansion's 40-plus rooms were walled in rich Circassian walnut, leather and ebony with gold tracery. There were greenhouses, formal gardens, huge barns, a gatehouse and a stone boathouse, where Payne's Aphrodite, the largest yacht in America, was moored. Payne brought his Ming porcelains and Rubens and Turner paintings to West Park.^[7]

The Church of the Ascension Holy Trinity, built in 1842 for an Episcopal congregation, is located at 1585 Route 9W in West Park.^[8]

キリスト教兄弟会の修練院もウェストパークにあります。元々は邸宅、学校、寮形式の居住区で構成されていましたが、現在はウェストパークのルート9Wの西側にある1つの建物に縮小されています。^{[ 9 ]}この邸宅には由緒ある歴史があります。南北戦争の直前に、スコットランド生まれの金融家で慈善家のアーチボルド・ラッセルによってイタリア様式で 建てられ、 ^{[ 10 ]} 1885年にユージンとシンシア・ダーキーに売却されました。ダーキー家は香辛料とマスタードの販売で財産を築きました。1920年代に、キリスト教兄弟会はダーキー家からハドソン川沿いの邸宅を購入しました。10年間放置された後、邸宅と隣接する学校の建物は2015年に複数の投資家によって買収され、現在は高級ウォッカ蒸留所、ホテル、イベントスペースであるハドソンハウスとなっています。^{[ 11 ]}

聖十字架修道院に加えて、ジョン・バロウズの小屋とジョン・バロウズのリバービー書斎も国家歴史登録財に登録されている。^{[ 12 ]}

北緯41度47分40秒、西経73度57分34秒/北緯41.79444度、西経73.95944度/北緯41.79444度、西経73.95944度