"Athens is a small village across the Hudson
River from the city of Hudson. Those days it was a busy town. It had
thirteen ice houses, four brick yards, three ship yards, a cotton mill
and a machine shop. It also had four hotels. One hotel belonged to a
man call Hardy Stewart. His hotel was on a corner near the river. He
had three cows. Of course, you know there were no automobiles at that
time. Well, every morning at about eight o’clock his hired man would
drive those cows right up through Main Street to the top of the hill to
a pasture. In the late afternoon the man would come back down and drive
those cows back to Mr. Stewart's barn."
Excerpt from a letter by Warren W.
Tranis 1905.
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Now over 100 years later,
Hardy Stewart's barn and stable master is long gone. In its place, is
the Stewart House's River Garden. The Garden, inspired by the Stewart
house itself, has a tin ceiling, a mahogany bar and the same unique
design. There is still commerce from Hudson, but friends and guests
come to the Stewart House over the Rip Van Winkle bridge or may arrive
on their boats, but not...on the Hudson Athens Ferry. (A full size
replica of the 'Hudson-Athens" ferry, was briefly resurrected by Steven
Spielberg for the Hollywood movie, "War of the Worlds". He even used
the Stewart House as the primary headquarters, while filming in Athens.
The
Town of Athens is resurgent again. And the Stewart House itself, after
seven years, has undergone a complete restoration. A certain local
historian deemed it "magnificent." A place Mr. Stewart would recognize,
and still call his own.
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