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Get to know North East/Millerton

Geographically true to its name, North East might seem the most literal place in Dutchess County, but with nearly 45 square miles of rolling countryside the possibilities here are all over the map. Hang a right past that sharp curve on Route 22 and you’ll hit Millerton, the town’s principal village and veteran Frommer’s “Coolest Small Town in America.” Founded as a crucial railroad junction between the Berkshires and points west, the track bed today hosts the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, a popular paved bikeway spanning the 15 miles from Metro North’s Wassaic Station. A small-but-mighty main drag boasts antique shops, an all-day nouveau diner, an L-shaped bookstore you’ll exit on a different block than you entered, and the casual headquarters of a prominent tea company, where on summer Saturdays you’ll spot parched pedalers sipping tisanes trailside over scones and clotted cream. Rows of in-town Victorians fade to hills and silos heading north, with Connecticut just a stone’s throw away.

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Living in the Hudson Valley

This cultured countryside needs little introduction. It’s been called New York’s Napa, the anti-Hamptons, or simply “upstate.” From rolling farm fields to mom-and-pop Main Streets, the region is blessed with easy highway access, train service via Metro-North and Amtrak, and even its own international airport, making it exceptionally attractive to New York City residents seeking a little more nature and a lot less bustle. Most of the area falls within a two-hour radius of Manhattan, making it practical for weekend or full-time residence. Straddling both sides of its namesake river (much is actually a tidal fjord), the Hudson Valley’s traditionally defined core consists of Putnam, Dutchess, and Columbia counties to its east and Ulster, Orange, and Greene to the west. Their mélange of art colonies, rustic-chic hamlets, and charming post-industrial cities — set to a landscape so breathtaking it inspired an eponymous 19th-century art movement — welcome infinite possibilities, from slow-paced small-town living to total off-the-grid seclusion. Bordering both the Berkshires and the Catskills, outdoor recreation runs aplenty, whether skiing in winter or climbing wilderness peaks in summer.