Social City Guide: Hudson River Valley, NY

This weekend marks the official start of spring, which really means that the temperatures are on the rise, and long, lazy weekend trips are about to become easier.
(We don’t begrudge winter and its frostbitten weather; it’s just life is, well, more enjoyable when being outside isn’t hellish.)

One perfect place to visit in the spring, before the summer weekenders take over is the Hudson Valley. It’s the nexus of everything New Yorkers (and visitors from afar) love: a quick hour-ish drive from the city; urban-trained expats expertly run the restaurants, shops, boutiques, museums, as if they were still in Manhattan; Instagrammable hotels and b&bs to really remind you that you’re not in your apartment anymore. But there’s really just one reason

Hudson’s charm feels a little untouched by time: the people there, transplants most, who have a decidedly #NIMBY perspective. No Starbucks, no big chains, no nothing-that-won’t-be-in-a-Kinfolk-spread. It’s a lazy, meandering area best explored over a long weekend, and what better way to do it than like a local? Here, 10 creatives, artists, foodies and makers responsible for that “so upstate right now” vibe you crave.

This is travel, today.

Bon voyage,

The Gramlist editors

@andnorth

If there’s one name from this list you need to remember, it’s And North. If there’s a second name, it’s Emma Tuccillo, the founder and creative director responsible for bringing simple, stunning photo guides to the masses hungry for upstate jaunts. Thanks to generous hashtagging, geotagging, and multiple daily posts, the feed literally is a real-time guide, and the And North team seems to know, quite literally, everyone who’s ever set foot in the Catskills.

Followers: 19.9k

@zioandsons

Anthony D’Argenzio’s business may have had small “beginnings”—his now-famous redecoration of his East Village apartment made the rounds on nearly every interiors blog ever—but as one of New York City’s rising design stars, he’s taking on bigger projects, further away. Personally, that means his new house upstate. Professionally, that means tackling prop styling, event design and private homes, all with his signature blend of lived-in luxury.

Followers: 67.6k

@dens

Classic New York story. Boy meets girl. Boy notices girl on friends’ Flickr accounts. He becomes CEO of FourSquare. Boy and girl get engaged, move upstate, are adorable. That’s Dennis’s real life right now, and when he’s not tinkering with new digital products, he’s playing rec soccer in Kingston, chopping wood, going for snowy runs. Oh, and gearing up to raise a baby with the woman one feed below…

Followers: 19k

@chelsa

It’s easy to envy Chelsea Crowley. She runs Storaway Cosmetics, founded on knowledge she gained working in-house at Clinique and Bobbi Brown. She splits her time beteween the bustling city and quiet Hudson. And she is a unbelievably cute 32-weeks pregnant mama-to-be. Her feed is anything but obnoxiously curated. Instead, it’s funny, inviting and real.

Followers: 4,857

@fishgamehudson

If there were a portal to old-world Hudson Valley, it would be this restaurant, opened in 2013 by—you guessed it—New York ex-pats, and a husband-and-wife team at that. Jori Jayne Emde and Zakary Pelaccio, formerly of Fatty Crab and Fatty ‘Cue, tucked into Hudson after the city drove them nuts, and away. Now, they run the gorgeously appointed and super-high-end restaurant, stocked with local produce and livestock. They’re constantly partnering up with neighboring businesses, so their feed functions as their little black book of sorts.

Followers: 3,197

@newburghbrewing

There are several reasons to love Christopher Basso, the CEO and brewmaster of Newburgh. One, that smile. Two, that the bottom of some of his cans read, “brewed wtih heart.” Third, this quote: “Craft beer has gotten a bit out of control with the wacky and weird just for the sake of having a gimmick…A lot of beer doesn’t taste like beer anymore.” Well, his does, and as his pictures prove, he really just loves getting good people together to drink good beer. America.

Followers: 6,060

@mohonkmountainhouse

Visiting Hudson, you have to actively try to ignore chatter about Mohonk Mountain House. It’s been run and owned by the Smiley family for 147 years and counting. There’s no hilltop view quite like it, and on their feed, there’s no shortage of vintage guest snaps and unthinkably beautiful vistas.

Followers: 8,120

@justinmichau

Guy’s straight out of a Kinfolk profile, if his bio is to be believed (and it is): “outdoorsman, photographer, designer, musician, craftsman, adventurer…” He goes on, but his photos tell the story—fly fishing, a wife he adores, an undaunted exploratory spirit. Does he ever go inside? He’ll inspire you to get upstate any time of year.

Followers: 8,106

@KingstonWineCo

If you can’t handle another cute couple running a great business, skip right over this. If you can, meet Michael and his designer/artist wife Theresa who opened this neighborhood wine shop to support long-term farming and bring people together around a common shared joy: wine.

Followers: 2,632

@fosterbuiltcoffee

Just going off of Instagram feeds alone, you could easily assume that Mark Foster actually runs a vintage motorcycle repair shop and dealership. And while you’re not wrong—he retools his own bike and rides constantly—he’s actually obsessed with a different kind of fuel: coffee. He’s been at the small-batch roast game since he set up shop in 2011, and if he isn’t the friendliest guy in the Catskill Mountains, then we don’t want to meet the person who is. Because they’d be too wonderful to handle.

Followers: 1,839