West Park is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

on the west side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

in the Town of Esopus,

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

, United States. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area became attractive to the well-to-do seeking second homes because it provided privacy, clean water and relatively inexpensive property.

Demographics and Climate

In the last census, West Park recorded a total of 547 residents: 271 males and 276 females. Thirty-eight percent of households in West Park contain children. The median age of the male population is 42.3 and the female population is 42.5. The median annual household income is $84,079. The average high temperature in July is 80.5 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 17.1 degrees. A great deal of land in West Park, much of which borders the Hudson River, is either protected by conservation organizations like

Scenic Hudson Scenic Hudson is a non-profit environmental organization in New York that protects land, creates, and enhances parks, and advocates for environmentally responsible policies and development practices. History Scenic Hudson was founded as the Scen ...

or owned by religious orders, making available homes in the hamlet scarce and highly sought-after. The ZIP code for West Park is 12493.

Notable people

Some notable residents included:

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...

, General Daniel Butterworth,

Robert Livingston Pell Robert Livingston Pell (May 8, 1818 – February 11, 1880) was an American landowner and descendant of several prominent colonial families of New York. Early life Pell was born at the old Pell mansion in Pelham on May 8, 1818. He was a son of Al ...

John Burroughs John Burroughs (April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921) was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the conservation movement in the United States. The first of his essay collections was ''Wake-Robin'' in 1871. In the words of his bio ...

, Col.

Oliver Hazard Payne Oliver Hazard Payne (July 21, 1839 – June 27, 1917) was an American businessman, organizer of the American Tobacco trust, and assisted with the formation of U.S. Steel, and was affiliated with Standard Oil. Early life Oliver Hazard Payne w ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

and philanthropist Archibald Russell, the founder of

Ulster Savings Bank Ulster Savings Bank is a mutual savings bank headquartered in Kingston, New York. The bank has 15 branches, all of which are in Ulster County, Orange County, or Dutchess County. History The bank was founded on April 12, 1851. Archibald Russ ...

and father of Archibald D. Russell,

Harry Payne Bingham Henry Payne Bingham (December 9, 1887 – March 25, 1955) was an American financier, sportsman, art patron and philanthropist. He funded a series of expeditions to study marine life. Early life He was born in 1887 to Charles William Bingham (184 ...

, John Jewell Smith and later his daughter Hilda Worthington Smith, architect

Matthias Hollwich Matthias Hollwich (born May 1, 1971 in Munich) is principal and founder of New York architecture firm HWKN Architecture (HWKN), a published author, and co-founder of Architizer.com. His work has been published in publications such as Wallpaper*, the ...

, boxer

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...

, and show business celebrities

Connie Ray Constance Ray (born July 10, 1956) is an American actress and playwright. Among her highest-profile appearances are ''Thank You for Smoking'' (2006) and ''Stuart Little'' (1999), and the television drama '' ER'' (1997). She also appeared in ''I ...

Joe Langworth Joe Langworth (born July 19, 1966) is an American theater Theatre director, director, choreographer, casting director, singing, singer and dancer. Career From 1990 – 2005, Langworth appeared in a number of major Broadway musicals, including the ...

Peter Dinklage Peter Hayden Dinklage (; born June 11, 1969) is an American film, television and stage actor. He received international recognition for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he wo ...

Sebastian Roché Sebastian Roché (born 4 August 1964) is a French-American actor. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in ''Odyssey 5'', Jerry Jacks in '' General Hospital'', Thomas Jerome Newton in ''Fringe'', Balthazar in '' Supernatural'', Mikael in bot ...

, Blair Ross and

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and producer. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Em ...

Abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Baumfree; November 26, 1883) was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to f ...

was enslaved by John Dumont on his farm overlooking the Hudson in West Park. In 1826, she began her famous walk to freedom from Floyd Ackert Road in West Park to the home of Isaac Van Wagenen in the nearby hamlet of St Remy. A plaque behind the current West Park Post Office memorializes the spot from which Sojourner Truth escaped slavery in West Park.

Landmarks

Holy Cross Monastery, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

monastery of the

Order of the Holy Cross The Order of the Holy Cross is an international Anglican monastic order that follows the Rule of St. Benedict. History The order was founded in 1884 by the Rev. James Huntington, an Episcopal priest, in New York City. The order moved to Mar ...

, is located in West Park, as is the Cabrini home founded by

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Saint Frances Cabrini. The

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

occupy a large portion of Hudson River-fronted acreage in West Park on the former

Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate is a historic estate, also known as Omega and Wiltwick, located on the west bank of the Hudson River at Esopus in Ulster County, New York, United States. The estate features a Beaux Arts-style Mediterranean pa ...

. The Payne home, known as Omega, a 42,000 square foot historically significant mansion of the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

, is now operated by

Marist College Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...

as the Raymond A Rich Leadership Institute. Payne's West Park mansion was faced with imported French limestone and built around a huge central courtyard lined with frescoes. The mansion’s 40-plus rooms were walled in rich Circassian walnut, leather and ebony with gold tracery. There were greenhouses, formal gardens, huge barns, a gatehouse and a stone boathouse, where Payne’s Aphrodite, the largest yacht in America, was moored. Payne brought his Ming porcelains and Rubens and Turner paintings to West Park. The Church of the Ascension Holy Trinity, built in 1842 for an Episcopal congregation, is located at 1585 Route 9W in West Park. A

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

is also located in West Park. Originally comprising a mansion, schoolhouse and dormitory-style living quarters, the property has been reduced to one building on the west side of Route 9W in West Park. The mansion has a storied history. It was built just prior to the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

in the Italianate style by Scottish-born financier and philanthropist Archibald Russell, and was sold in 1885 to Eugene and Cynthia Durkee whose family amassed a fortune by selling spices and mustards. In the 1920s, the Christian Brothers purchased the Hudson River mansion from the Durkee family. After remaining abandoned for a decade, the mansion and adjacent school building were acquired in 2015 by a number of investors and is now the Hudson House, a luxury vodka distillery, hotel and event space. The Red Maple Vineyard, a restored winery and currently premier wedding venue, is located on Burroughs Drive in West Park. In addition to Holy Cross Monastery, the John Burroughs Cabin and John Burroughs Riverby Study are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

References

{{authority control Hamlets in New York (state) New York (state) populated places on the Hudson River Hamlets in Ulster County, New York