Rhinecliffis ahamletandcensus-designated place(CDP) located along theHudson Riverin the town ofRhinebeckin northernDutchess County,New York,United States. As of the2010 census,the population of Rhinecliff was 425.[2]
Rhinecliff, New York | |
|---|---|
 Rhinecliff rooftops overlooking theHudson Riverin winter | |
 Location of Rhinecliff, New York | |
| Coordinates:41°55′10″N73°57′4″W/ 41.91944°N 73.95111°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Dutchess |
| Town | Rhinebeck |
| Area | |
• Total | 1.04 sq mi (2.70 km2) |
| • Land | 1.03 sq mi (2.66 km2) |
| • Water | 0.01 sq mi (0.04 km2) |
| Elevation | 55 ft (17 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 380 |
| • Density | 370.01/sq mi (142.80/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5(Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4(EDT) |
| ZIP code | 12574 |
| Area code | 845 |
| FIPS code | 36-61368 |
| GNISfeature ID | 962439 |
History
edit
Today’s Rhinecliff was founded by Europeans in 1686 as the town ofKipsbergenby five Dutchmen, among them Hendrikus andJacobus Kip.They moved fromKingstonon the west bank to live in the new settlement along the eastern shore of the Hudson. By this time England had already taken over New Netherland, the former Dutch colony that included Manhattan.
TheHudson River Railroad'sRhinebeck stationopened in 1851 at Slate Dock and was relocated south to Shatzell's Dock the next year.Charles Handy Russell,a real estate developer and owner of the ferry service to Kingston, created a small village around the relocated station. It was originally called Shatzellville, then Boormanville after railroad president James Boorman. Russell's architect and builder, George Veitch, invented the name "Rhinecliff" in reference to Rhinebeck and the nearby cliffs.[3][4](Contrary to popular rumor, the hamlet was not named after theWyndcliffeestate, which was never formally called "Rhinecliff".)[5]TheRhinecliff Hotelopened around 1855, and the post office was renamed Rhinecliff in 1861.[3]
Anna L. andLevi P. Morton,who owned the nearby Ellerslie estate, constructed and endowed the Morton Memorial Library in Rhinecliff in memory of their daughter Lena. It was dedicated as a library in 1908.[6]
Geography
edit
Rhinecliff is located in the western part of thetownof Rhinebeck, 1 mile (1.6 km) west ofRhinebeck village.It is directly across the Hudson River from the city of Kingston. The closest river crossing is theKingston–Rhinecliff Bridge(New York State Route 199), 4 miles (6 km) to the north. According to theU.S. Census Bureau,the Rhinecliff CDP has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), of which 0.02 square miles (0.04 km2), or 1.37%, is water.[2]
Rhinecliff is one of the oldest intact hamlets along the Hudson River and is listed in theNational Register of Historic Placesas a contributor to theHudson River National Historic Landmark District.At 20 miles (30 km) long, this historic district is the largestNational Historic Landmark(NHL) designation in the country.
Rhinecliff is also included in the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Program (LWRP). It is designated a Scenic Area of Statewide Significance (SASS), a contributor to the DEC Mid-Hudson Historic Shorelands Scenic District, a contributor to DEC Scenic Roads designations, and is in the Hudson RiverNational Heritage Corridor.The hamlet serves as the water and rail gateway to the larger Town of Rhinebeck.
The hamlet is demarcated by large agricultural and wooded area to the north, east, and south, and bounded by the Hudson River on the west. Steep topography, formed by contorted slate ridges and valleys, define the site-specific and seemingly random orientation of the small, frame nineteenth-century houses and winding narrow roads. The hamlet had a mid-nineteenth century building boom, but its boundaries and building density have changed very little over the last one hundred years.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 425 | — | |
| 2020 | 380 | −10.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[7] | |||
Government
editAs part of the town of Rhinebeck, the hamlet of Rhinecliff is included within the jurisdiction of the town government.In 2005, the Town Board created the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council to facilitate communications between the hamlet and town. Goals of the Advisory Council are to work with the community on the protection of the historic hamlet, integration of a multi-use greenway connecting the town with the hamlet, appropriate development of the waterfront, and sensitive residential development in outlying areas.[citation needed]
A proposal to build a large contemporary residence overlooking the Hudson on Grinnell Street in the hamlet is generating controversy in Rhinecliff. Several Rhinecliff residents have spoken out against the proposal, objecting to the size of the proposed residence, its modern style, and that it blocks views of the Hudson River andCatskill Mountains.Other Rhinecliff residents have defended the proposal, arguing it will be a beautiful addition to the hamlet and that it blends the historic and the modern in a creative way. In 2014 the matter was before the Rhinebeck Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals.[8]
Education
editIt is within theRhinebeck Central School District.[9]
Notable people
editNearby notables, past and/or present, have includedLevi P. Morton,Vincent Astor,Natalie Merchant,andAnnie Leibovitz.
In popular culture
editAccording to her biographerLouis Auchincloss,Edith Whartonwas a frequent childhood visitor who later described theWyndcliffemansion as "The Willows" inHudson River Bracketed.In her autobiography,A Backward Glance(1933), Mrs. Wharton wrote about Wyndcliffe and her aunt.[10]
...But no memories of those years survive, save those I have mentioned, and one other, a good deal dimmer, of going to stay one summer with my Aunt Elizabeth, my father's unmarried sister, who had a house at Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson.... I can still remember hating everything at Rhinecliff, which, as I saw, on rediscovering it some years later, was an expensive but dour specimen of Hudson River Gothic; and from the first I was obscurely conscious of a queer resemblance between the granite exterior of Aunt Elizabeth and her grimly comfortable home, between her battlemented caps and the turrets of Rhinecliff...
The town is also the setting of the fictional book seriesThe It GirlbyGossip GirlwriterCecily von Ziegesar.[citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"ArcGIS REST Services Directory".United States Census Bureau.RetrievedSeptember 20,2022.
- ^ab"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Rhinecliff CDP, New York".U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived fromthe originalon February 13, 2020.RetrievedNovember 20,2015.
- ^abRingwald, Donald C. (January 8, 1957)."History of the Kingston–Rhinecliff Ferry".The Kingston Daily Freeman.pp. 10,11,12– via Newspapers.
- ^Morse, Howard Holdridge (1908).Historic old Rhinebeck, echoes of two centuries; a Hudson River and post road colonial town.pp. 370–372.
- ^Mark, Joshua J. (June 4, 2021)."The Wyndclyffe Estate".World History Encyclopedia.RetrievedDecember 19,2023.
- ^Morton Memorial Library
- ^"Census of Population and Housing".Census.gov.RetrievedJune 4,2016.
- ^"Plan for large ultramodern residence on the river stirs controversy | rhinecliff.org".Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2014.RetrievedJune 8,2014.
- ^"2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Dutchess County, NY"(PDF).U.S. Census Bureau.p. 1 (PDF p. 2/7).RetrievedDecember 18,2023.
24480
- ^Edith Wharton (2013).A Backward Glance.Lulu Press.ISBN978-1-291-63720-5.
External links
edit
This article includes a list ofgeneral references,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(July 2009) |
- Morton Memorial Library and Community House
- Rhinecliff.org,local community website