Quarterly Publication serving Ulster, Dutchess, and Columbia Counties. On the local level we hope to foster community participation and the growth of small businesses. On the regional level we strive for greater awareness of our shared natural, environment and historic heritage. We hope that eventually we will grow to encompass other important areas of the mid-Hudson in Ulster, Greene, Dutchess and Columbia counties.

We think of About Town of Dutchess and Columbia Counties as a vehicle to help cement community consciousness, as a voyage of exploration for us through a unique corner of the Hudson Valley. That corner — the four Dutchess County towns of Rhinebeck, Clinton, Red Hook, and Milan and the three Columbia County towns of Clermont, Germantown and Livingston and the city of Hudson — is a glorious mix of small scale settlements nestled amid farms, forests, fields, parks and wetlands, It is defined most of all by the Hudson River, the north-south roadways that parallel it, and the towns and villages that have grown up along that river and those roads.

 Whatever the virtues of the global village, the real joys of life are always found close-at-hand. Articles in AboutTown offer informative local perspectives on the past and present, and a guide to savoring the richness of the towns and villages we live in and the people who populate them. Information is our stock in trade. The calendar of events and ongoing activities offers a comprehensive listing of performances, entertainment, recreation, clubs, activities, classes and lectures available in the community. The listings by our advertising supporters are meant to inspire you to shop wisely and — when at all possible — locally.

 Roots & Community

Like most Americans nowadays — and incidentally, like nearly half of our fellow local residents — we grew up somewhere else. Though the two of us can collectively boast of two and a half decades of local experience, we grew up and pursued the first half of our adult lives farther south — in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. Putting out AboutTown has also meant for us the discovery of a rich rural and village heritage within a stone's throw of the Northeast's urban/suburban heartland.