Named after Henry Hudson, the Dutch explorer, the Hudson River originates in Lake Tear in the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks, and flows 315 miles to the tip of Manhattan. In the mid-seventeenth century, the Hudson River Valley was seen as inhospitable and difficult to traverse, with wild animals, mountains, and thick forests. The river itself was seen as dangerous, especially in the stretch of the Hudson Highlands. The Dutch and the British both claimed the Hudson River and its valley. However, the British overcame the Dutch and ruled from 1664 to 1776.
The Hudson River and the valley played an important military strategic role in the American Revolutionary War; approximately a third of its battles were fought along the river’s shores. After the end of the war, the Hudson and the valley helped establish the new nation identity. Battle sites and places associated with the Revolutionary War and the beauty of the river’s scenery attracted travelers from around the world. As Americans were struggling to form their own sense of identity and culture, the Hudson Valley became a focal point, with stories and scenes from the Revolution mixed with the Dutch folklore of its earliest settlers.
The Hudson River was the country’s most important river for agriculture, for transportation to market farm and industrial products, and for navigability to international markets from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean at New York City. It was also the main route between the East Coast and the rest of the country, especially with the completion of the Erie Canal.

The Hudson River gained prominence again with the invention of the steamboat in 1807. The river and its surroundings were made more accessible and became a destination for leisure travel. The steamboat offered a fast and affordable way to travel, and by 1850 there were approximately 150 of these vessels, carrying as many as a million passengers.
After completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, the Hudson River became one of the nation’s main arteries of trade, opening a gateway to the west and prompting a period of major economic and industrial expansion in the area. The enormous flow of people using the Hudson for travel and commerce changed the economy of the valley. New York Harbor became the country’s most important port and shaped the social and economic development of the nation. Immigrants flocked to New York and crowded the canal boats in search of new lands and opportunities.
In the year the Erie Canal was completed, an artist by the name of Thomas Cole came to the Hudson River Valley. He was so enamored by the scenic beauty of the area that he began a sketching trip through the valley. His paintings glorifying nature influenced other artists to do the same. The style became known as the Hudson River School of painting. Another avenue that helped make the area a popular one for tourists were the literary works by writers such as Washington Irving.

As tuberculosis and other dangerous diseases began to spread in New York City in the mid-1800s, the Hudson River Valley became a health retreat. Until the early 1900s, people from the city went to the valley to experience the therapeutic powers they believed it to hold. The mountains, fresh air, and evergreen forests were thought to offer the perfect conditions for good health and were within close proximity to the city. The river valley’s beauty led it to be called the “Rhine of America,” and it enjoyed an international reputation as a scenic wonder and attraction for visitors. In the age of Industrial Revolution, The Hudson River Valley, once the breadbasket of the United States, became a hub of manufacturing industries due to the needs of New York City and facilitated by river transport. Valley industries included lumbering, brick making, sloop building, iron making, leather tanning, and ice harvesting.
Railroads promoted the continued industrialization of the Hudson River Valley. They also encouraged suburbanization by making commuting to the city easier. Wealthy New York businessmen and politicians such as J. Pierpont Morgan, U.S. Senator Hamilton Fish, Union Pacific railroad president Edward H. Harriman, and the Roosevelt family began to buy property in the valley for summer and weekend retreats. Roads, bridges, and tunnels encouraged the growth of the suburbs. The advent of the interstate highway system in the 1930s through 1950s contributed to the decline of many river towns and hastened the end of steam-boating on the river. Industry no longer relied on the river or railroads for transportation; many manufacturing companies moved to lower cost sites elsewhere in the count. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Hudson River Valley’s wilderness was eroding. Over-foresting and quarrying was affecting the area. The environmental movement we know in the United States today has it roots firmly in the Hudson in response to several events in the 1960s. The Hudson continues to represent environmental controversy as well as environmental renaissance.