The Stewart House

The Stewart House is an 1883 Italianate building on the waterfront in Athens, New York — nine rooms, an Art Deco bar, a wood-fired tavern, and a small spa, run as a single property in a small Hudson River town that most weekenders drive past on their way to Hudson. It's the rare case where the under-the-radar town is the asset rather than a compromise.

Athens sits directly across the river from Hudson — same view, half the foot traffic, a working ferry-landing village that has not been comprehensively gentrified. The Stewart House occupies the original boarding house on the waterfront, kept honest in its bones, with a serious food program layered on top.

The setting

Athens is a Hudson River village in Greene County — the working-class twin of Hudson on the opposite bank, with a quiet main street, a small park on the river, and a population that has not yet quintupled. The Stewart House is on Water Street, directly on the river, with views east toward Hudson's lighthouse and the Olana ridge beyond.

The drive from the city is two hours via the Thruway. Catskill is ten minutes south; Hudson is fifteen minutes by way of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge; the Catskills high peaks and Phoenicia are an hour west. The closest Amtrak is Hudson — fifteen minutes by cab or a five-minute drive plus a brief river crossing.

The building

A nineteenth-century Italianate boarding house — three stories, a deep porch on the river side, painted clapboard, the bracketed eaves and tall windows of the period. The renovation kept the building's bones and layered in a current set of finishes: pine floors, brass and velvet, painted plaster. The Art Deco bar — incongruous on paper — is one of the better-photographed rooms in the upper Hudson Valley and works because the owners committed to it rather than splitting the difference.

The wood-fired tavern is the second food room — a more rustic, casual register than the bar, with the stove visible from the dining room.

The rooms

Nine guest rooms across the upper floors, each shaped by the original building. Beds are firm, linens are real, bathrooms are renovated to a current standard. Decor is neo-Victorian over the Italianate bones with a few upscale-bohemian moments. Some rooms face the river; some face the village. Ask for a river-side room if the view is the point.

Food & drink

Two distinct food rooms: the Art Deco bar (cocktails and a smaller plates menu) and the wood-fired tavern (a more substantial dinner program built around the stove). Both take non-guest reservations. Breakfast runs in the bar room or on the porch in season. The kitchen is genuinely a project rather than an amenity.

On the property

A small waterfront hotel with an unusually full amenity stack for nine rooms.

• Art Deco bar
• Wood-fired tavern (dinner)
• Small spa with treatments by appointment
• River-side porch and lawn
• Paddle access to the Hudson
• Open year-round

Who it's for

• Hudson Valley repeaters who've done Hudson and want the quieter side
• Couples who'd rather drink in an Art Deco bar than a country-inn parlor
• Travelers who specifically want to be on the river rather than near it
• Anyone with opinions about hotel bars

Who it's not for

• Families with very small kids in a nine-room historic property
• Travelers who want a full-resort amenity stack with pool and gym
• Visitors who want to be in a busier town

Nearby

Hudson is fifteen minutes east via the Rip Van Winkle Bridge — Warren Street, the basilica, and the bigger restaurant scene. Olana is twenty south, on the same side of the river. Catskill village is ten south, with Hi-Lo on Main Street and the riverfront. The Catskills trailheads are forty-five minutes west. For paddle: Athens has direct river access from the property.