West Park is a

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

on the west side of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

in the Town of Esopus,

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston, ...

, 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. The USDA

Hardiness Zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

is 5B (-20°F to -15°F). A great deal of land in West Park, much of which borders the Hudson River, is either protected by conservation organizations like Scenic Hudson 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-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting History of opiu ...

, Mother Cabrini, General Daniel Butterworth, Robert Livingston Pell,

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 bi ...

, Col. Oliver Hazard Payne,

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 the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

and philanthropist Archibald Russell, the founder of Ulster Savings Bank and father of Archibald D. Russell, Harry Payne Bingham, John Jewell Smith and later his daughter Hilda Worthington Smith, architect Matthias Hollwich, 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, Joe Langworth, Peter Dinklage, Sebastian Roché, Blair Ross and

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

Abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Bomefree; November 26, 1883) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and Temperance movement, alcohol temperance. Truth was ...

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, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

monastery of the Order of the Holy Cross, is located in West Park, as is the Cabrini home founded by

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

occupy a large portion of Hudson River-fronted acreage in West Park on the former Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate. The Payne home, known as Omega, a 42,000 square foot historically significant mansion of the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

, is now operated by

Marist College Marist University is a private university in Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Marist was founded by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute, in 1905 to prepare brothers for their ...

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 (; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Ignatius Rice, Edmund Rice. Their first school opened in Waterford, Ireland in 1802. At the time of its ...

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 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. 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

References

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