Take it with two grains of salt. The arbiters of cool have struck again. This time, you don”™t have to buy a Nehru jacket to keep up; you just have to get off the Thruway at exit 20.
For the town of Saugerties, which has always been a regional destination of bustling businesses and tidy lawns, it means a citation as one of this year”™s 10 coolest small towns in America as compiled in Budget Travel magazine.
Nearby Woodstock, which defines cool by most definitions, was not on the list.
“Cool doesn”™t mean quaint,” the editors wrote in their call for submissions. “We want towns with an edge. So think avant-garde galleries, not country stores.”
Saugerties as it happens, has both. “There is a good mix in the community,” said town supervisor Gregory Helsmoortel. “We have so much going for us.” He cited the playing fields of municipally owned Cantine Fields, the art galleries and antique shops, bookstores, a regionally known shoe store in Montano”™s, micro-brewed beer businesses and variety of restaurants that adorn the town center.
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Nearby is the renovated Saugerties Lighthouse on the Hudson River that is one of the nation”™s most spectacular, and unusual, bed and breakfasts. There is also Krause”™s Chocolates, making hand made high quality confections that draw people from all over the area to their sweet smelling shop.
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The clean and inviting Esopus Creek runs past Cantine Island, a planned community where residents share a communal garden and other community property. A marina leads boaters, kayakers and swimmers to the Hudson River. Horses in the Sun, the Garlic Fest and the Mum Fest grace the town.
The magazine editors say they look for communities with populations under 10,000 (the village of Saugerties had 4,955 in the 2000 Census) that are on the upswing and beginning to draw attention and new residents because of the quality of life, the arts and restaurant scene or the proximity to nature. No mention of horses, but HITS has established Saugerties a national equestrian center, as well.?In their listing, they cited the remarkably friendly feel to the town 100 miles upriver from Manhattan in Ulster County. “Don”™t be surprised if you are invited into someone”™s house the minute you set foot in Saugerties,” the praise begins, citing Hope Farm Press & Bookshop run out of the proprietor”™s converted living room. ?Joining Saugerties on this year”™s list of the 10 coolest small towns in America are Cayucos, Calif.; Lexington, Va.; Breaux Bridge, La.; Tubac, Ariz.; Wallace, Idaho; Mount Vernon, Iowa; Jacksonville, Ore.; Rockland, Maine; and Whitefish, Mont.?“Stroll Main and Partition street,” said Helsmoortel. “It”™s not a long walk and you would certainly get the flavor of the town.” Then he said, if it was summer “ask directions to the lighthouse” and if winter, “ask how to get to the skating rink.”
