Wonder why there are whales on the street signs of a place nowhere near the ocean? Settled in the late-1700s as a safe harbor free from the Redcoats’ coastal auspices, Hudson was America’s first incorporated city after the Revolution and prospered as a bustling manufacturing hub, benefiting from the ancillary industries of its whaling activities and adjacent agrarian bounty. With an Amtrak station and its diverse array of award-winning restaurants, antiquariums, and design shops, Hudson is one of few places practical for spending a long weekend without ever getting in a car. Warren Street, more than a mile long, anchors the 45-block Hudson Historic District, dubbed a “dictionary” of America’s architectural vernacular. Basilica Hudson is a choice venue for film screenings and experimental music festivals, and summer sunsets at Olana, the bewitching estate of landscape painter Frederic Church, is a summer ritual. The Rip Van Winkle Bridge connects Catskill, a sizable city in its own right. It’s no wonder Hudson has become a choice destination for tastemakers and artisans alike.