Wm. Farmer & Sons

A 15-room boarding-house-and-barroom on South Front Street in Hudson — the quieter end of town, away from Warren Street's foot traffic, with the Amtrak station across the tracks and the river a block beyond. Wm. Farmer & Sons opened in 2015 in a former general store and has been the calmer, more small-town-American counterpart to the louder Hudson hotels (the Maker, the Wick, the Rivertown Lodge) ever since.

The proposition is straightforward: rooms above a bar that's a real bar, breakfast in the morning, dinner downstairs, a porch, and a 90-second walk to the train. It's one of the few Hudson stays where you can actually get off the train, drop your bag, and be eating dinner in twenty minutes — which is the way Hudson is supposed to work.

The setting

Hudson is the Hudson Valley's most-discussed small town and has been since roughly 2010 — Warren Street's antique shops, Olana across the river, the loaded restaurant scene, the steady weekend procession from Brooklyn. South Front Street is the quieter half. The Amtrak station is two blocks south, the river one block west, Warren Street four blocks north. The Hudson Athens Lighthouse is visible from the riverfront.

By train, Hudson is two hours from Penn Station — one of the better day-trip and weekend cities in the Northeast specifically because the train works. By car, it's two and a half from New York and forty minutes from the Massachusetts border. Olana, Frederic Church's Persian-revival house, is fifteen minutes south across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

The building

A wood-frame former general-store-and-residence in the 1850s vernacular Hudson does well — clapboard, deep window frames, plank floors. The current ownership did a low-key restoration with a refined-Americana lean: lime-washed oak, pine, wool, brass, plenty of original fabric kept in place. The ground floor is mostly bar and restaurant; the upper floors are rooms. Public spaces are narrow and intentional rather than grand — a barroom, a back dining room, a small lounge.

The rooms

Fifteen keys spread across the three upper floors, ranging from compact double-bedrooms to a couple of larger king suites at the top. Linens are good, ceilings tall, the design honest — pine floors, wool throws, simple bedding. Front rooms get the South Front Street view (and a small amount of train sound). Back rooms are quieter. From-rates around $275, climbing on summer weekends and during October foliage.

Food & drink

The barroom and restaurant downstairs are the food program — a tight, regional menu that runs farm-to-table without leaning on the phrase, plus a serious whiskey and beer program in the bar. Bookable by non-guests, walk-in seating at the bar most weeknights. Breakfast is served daily for guests and locals.

On the property

A barroom, a porch, a small garden, paddle access to the river within walking distance.

• Barroom and restaurant on-site (open to non-guests)
• Walking distance to Amtrak (2 blocks) and Warren Street (4 blocks)
• River access (kayaking and paddle out of the Hudson Sloop Club nearby)
• Open year-round; foliage and summer weekends book first

Who it's for

• New Yorkers taking the train up for a long weekend
• Couples who want a real bar, real food, and a quiet block
• Travelers using Hudson as a base for Olana, the Catskills, and the Berkshires
• Architecture and antiques people working Warren Street

Who it's not for

• Travelers who want a pool, a spa, or a gym — there isn't any of that
• Families with young children — bar-with-rooms is the right description
• Anyone who wants to be in the middle of Warren Street's foot traffic

Nearby

Warren Street's full restaurant and shop run is four blocks north — Le Perche, Lil' Deb's Oasis, the Spotty Dog Books & Ale, Hudson Wine Merchants, the Carrie Haddad Gallery. Olana is fifteen minutes south. The Hudson Athens Lighthouse and the small park at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park are walking distance. Catskill (across the bridge) is ten minutes; the Thomas Cole House and Hi-Lo Catskill round out a literary-and-art half-day. For a longer trip: the Berkshires (Williamstown, Mass MoCA) are a forty-minute drive east.