Swapping One Hudson Valley Hometown for Another

I never felt attached to my “hometown.” I still don’t even know how to properly define it. I’m from Highland Mills, NY, which is the Woodbury counterpart to the Monroe-Woodbury school district conglomerate. It’s in Central Valley of Orange County, which is southeast within the Hudson Valley. It’s always felt overpowered by the all-encompassing Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets, with Route 32 either bumper to bumper or under construction. There’s not much to do—there’s some retail shopping, a dozen pizzerias, and an old rundown movie theater across town. Sure, the athletics were highly competitive and there were great resources during my time at the Monroe-Woodbury schools, but I don’t think I ever particularly reaped the benefits. I eventually made my way two exits up the thruway, where I adopted a new home town: New Paltz, NY of Ulster County.

I ended up at SUNY New Paltz after spending a year at Rockland County Community College. I ached to go away for school and get started on all the good stuff: broadening my horizons, meeting new friends and getting out of my little fishbowl world. I ended up finding another fishbowl to swim in.

New Paltz feels like it’s entirely just one road: from getting off 87, you can take Main Street all of the way up the mountain. There are tiny restaurant nooks, eclectic, vintage boutiques and a variety of pubs and bars. College students live above cafes, house sublets and in apartment complexes, but it’s not unlikely that they could have a born-and-raised New Paltzian living next door. On a sunny day, it feels like all of New Paltz is out walking the narrow sidewalks. Old “hippies” in tie dye, reminiscent of Woodstock days; a young family with toddling tots grabbing a bite to eat; a couple of students taking a break from studying hours. It was my first experience living in a small town, and walking down the street to the village’s library with familiar faces smiling back at me are some of my fondest summer memories. I got a job at the diner in town. I ran on the Rail Trail and got coffee at The Bakery. On the weekends I bar hopped from Murphy’s to Snug’s with the rest of my twenty-something peers.

One night, I ran into some people I went to high school with. “Hey, what are they doing here? This is my town,” I thought. I might not be born and raised here, but I eat, sleep, breathe and live here. New Paltz is comfortable and friendly, just like the couches in Cafeteria and the staff at Main Street Bistro. Woodbury is where I’m from, but New Paltz is my home. A new home is never as far away as you think it is.