Text by Mary Forsell

For 10 years, it’s been known as the antiques capital of the Northeast. But now a different wave is washing over this once-sleepy river city (really a large town). Contemporary home furnishings shops, galleries, and restaurants are popping up all along Warren Street, the main drag. “It’s a huge trend here,” says Windle Davis, co-owner of The Inn at Hudson, a restored Jacobean mansion that dates from Hudson’s heyday a century ago as a bustling port. “It’s like an avalanche. We’ve been attracting all these young travelers from around the world: Germany, England, Australia, Brooklyn...”

It helps that New York City is just two hours due south and easily accessible by train. Many businesses such as artist-owned Historical Materialism, furnishings atelier Gray Fish, and the café Le Gamin, have roots in the metropolis. “Hudson is now a pretty dynamic place,” says Richard Bodin of Hudson Home. “The contemporary furnishings stores are a nice complement to the antiques shops, as well as stores such as ours that mix new and old. There’s a little bit of something for everyone. The stores play off each other, all of them independently owned—no chains!”