A Kingston Day Trip: Stockade, Waterfront, and the Drive Home

A Kingston, NY day trip splits neatly into two neighborhoods: Uptown, where the 1658 Stockade District holds Senate House and the Old Dutch Church, and the Rondout, the old canal port on the Rondout Creek with the Hudson River Maritime Museum and the Reher Center. Spend the morning Uptown, drive down to the water after lunch, then pick your road home to New Paltz, the Thruway or Route 32.

Kingston sits about 18 miles north of Farmers Choice New Paltz, a 25-minute run up the Thruway, and the City of Kingston describes itself as the state's first capital.

What is there to do in Uptown Kingston?

Start with the Stockade District. Friends of Historic Kingston describes it as the site of the original village, fortified by a 14-foot stockade fence, where Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland, ordered the early settlers at Esopus to move for their safety in 1658. Stuyvesant designed the street plan that still exists and called the village Wiltwyck, and nearly two dozen 18th century limestone houses still stand in what is now Uptown's business district.

Senate House State Historic Site, 296 Fair Street. In 1777, New York's first Senate met in merchant Abraham Van Gaasbeek's home here, for a month starting September 9. British forces burned Kingston that October, and State Parks says beams in Senate House still bear evidence of the fire. A museum building added in 1927 holds exhibits including "Revolution Comes to Kingston" and "Vanderlyn the Artist". Through October 31, drop-in tours run on the hour, Wednesday to Saturday 10AM to 5PM and Sunday 1PM to 5PM, with the last tour at 4PM.

Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall Street. The church says its original building went up on this site in 1660 as one corner of the stockade Stuyvesant ordered built, and that British forces burned the church again in October 1777. It is a working Reformed congregation with Sunday services, so visit with that in mind.

Friends of Historic Kingston Gallery and the Fred J. Johnston House, 63 Main Street. On the corner of Main and Wall Streets, the house museum is open Fridays and Saturdays through the end of October, with guided tours of the house during gallery hours. The gallery also has the printed self-guided walking tour of the Stockade District, and the same brochure can be downloaded from the Friends of Historic Kingston site.

How do you spend an afternoon on the Rondout waterfront?

Drive down to the creek. Friends of Historic Kingston says Rondout turned from farmland into a maritime village after the Delaware and Hudson Canal opened in 1828 with its terminus there, and the Hudson River Maritime Museum says coal came 108 miles over the canal from Honesdale, Pennsylvania, to be moved onto larger boats and towed down the Hudson.

Hudson River Maritime Museum, 50 Rondout Landing. The museum shows hundreds of items from its collection, including historic vessels, art and artifacts, and it posts current hours and guided tour times on its Plan Your Visit page. Its solar-powered boat, Solaris, runs cruises May through October, and our Hudson River fall foliage cruises roundup has the October sailings from Rondout Landing.

Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History, 99-101 Broadway. Two generations of the Jewish immigrant Reher family ran a bakery from the storefront at 101 Broadway and lived upstairs. The building is now a museum and cultural center with tours of the historic retail shop and oven room. The gallery is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1PM to 5PM, and guided bakery tours need a reservation. For the Path Through History weekend, the center lists tours on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 at 11:30AM, with registration required.

Parking. The Reher Center says parking along Spring Street is free and there is a free municipal lot on Rondout Landing at the foot of Broadway. The Maritime Museum adds that the metered spaces in front of the museum are free after 6PM and on Sundays.

On the last Saturday of October, the Friends of Historic Kingston Rondout walking tour leaves the gazebo in T.R. Gallo Park on West Strand Street at 11AM.

What is on in Kingston in October 2026?

Four dated items land this month. The Reher Center's Path Through History tours run Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 at 11:30AM. The Friends of Historic Kingston Rondout walking tour leaves T.R. Gallo Park at 11AM on Saturday, October 31, and that is also the last day of Senate House's drop-in tour season. The Johnston House and the Solaris cruises both run through the end of October, so a Friday or Saturday late in the month still works for a full Kingston day.

Which way home to New Paltz, the Thruway or Route 32?

The Thruway is quicker. From Kingston it is about 18 miles and 25 minutes to Farmers Choice New Paltz, heading south to Exit 18.

Route 32 is the local road. From Senate House south on Route 32 past Rosendale and on to the store is about 17 miles and 30 minutes by OpenStreetMap and OSRM estimates, rounded to five minutes, with no traffic. Rosendale itself is about 9 miles and 16 minutes north of the store.

Keep a purchase sealed until home

Both roads home run under the same rules. New York's Office of Cannabis Management says that opening cannabis packaging in a vehicle is off limits to everyone in it, driver and passengers alike, that smoking cannabis in a vehicle is illegal in a parked car as much as a moving one, and that using cannabis is illegal wherever tobacco smoking is prohibited, public parks included. The bag from the barn stays sealed until it is home, and our explainer on New York cannabis laws has the details.

End the day at Farmers Choice New Paltz

Whichever road you pick, it finishes at the same corner. Farmers Choice New Paltz occupies the barn at 1 Old Route 299, the spot where Route 299 meets the Thruway at Exit 18: the Thruway route leaves the highway at that exit, and the Route 32 route arrives by way of Route 299 through the village. Hours are 8AM to 10PM daily, the lot holds about 35 to 37 cars and has EV charging, and adults 21 and over are served with a valid government-issued photo ID.

Order Now from the New Paltz menu when the Kingston day wraps up; most orders are ready inside an hour.