Hudson River Area, New York
When we first went to New York City in summer of 2007, we rode Amtrak from Montreal. The route was along the Hudson River, and Stephen remembers looking out the window and wishing we could visit it.
We drove up through several smaller towns to Beacon, NY. Our favorite spot was this waterfall and dam near Croton-on-Hudson, NY.
Hartford and Norwich, Connecticut
We drove through Hartford on Labor Day, so it was mostly closed. There were some nice historic buildings.
The first town that caught our interest was Norwich, CT. There are many large historic homes, and a lovely downtown. (Also, the cost of living is below national average!)
Newport, Rhode Island
We didn't plan to go to Newport but found an inexpensive hotel there. Lucky us: Newport has everything in our Northeastern dreams: old buildings, active downtown, architecture preservation groups...
While we were driving, we remembered that Newport has two other buildings from our Architecture History classes.
Both buildings are designed by Peter Harrison. The first is Touro Synagogue, built in 1763, oldest synagogue in the United States. The synagogue is not parallel to the street because it faces East toward Jerusalem.
Stephen and the other men were required to wear yarmulkes while inside. Although the synagogue members are not orthodox, they hold orthodox style services here in honor of the history, and of the orthodox church in New York that owns the building. In center box, a reader recites prayers. Everyone else faces East. Women stay on the upper balcony.
The second building is the Redwood Library. It continues to be a private library, and has many of the old books it once held.
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