Annandale-on-Hudson, New York


Annandale-on-Hudson is a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the Hudson Valley in the town of Red Hook, across the Hudson River from Kingston.
The hamlet consists almost entirely of the Bard College campus.

Municipal services

at Annandale-on-Hudson are provided by the municipal Red Hook Police Department, the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police, Red Hook Volunteer Fire Company, and Tivoli Volunteer Fire Company. Students, faculty, and staff of Bard College also receive on-campus emergency assistance from Bard College Safety and Security and the student-run Bard EMS.

History

The town takes its name from an estate donated by John Bard and his wife to Columbia University so that a college could be formed there. Today, Bard College stands on the land that John Bard donated. Bard College houses the only post office for Annandale-on-Hudson's ZIP code, 12504. The land comprising Annandale-on-Hudson, sometimes shortened to just "Annandale", is primarily owned by Bard College, though there are a few private residences, some small businesses, and undeveloped land controlled by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Despite its tiny geographic coverage, there is significant history rooted in Annandale-on-Hudson. Blithewood, a mansion originally designed by Francis L. V. Hoppin, an alumnus of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White for Andrew C. Zabriskie in 1899, replaced an earlier mansion by the same name remodeled for Robert Donaldson Jr. by architect Alexander Jackson Davis. The current Blithewood was donated to Bard College in 1951 by the Zabriskie family and, today, houses the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. The Manor Estate is another historical mansion located on campus.
Bard College resident-archaeologist Christopher Lindner has done extensive research on local history, including predominantly Native Americans and Dutch settlers, as well as the old money that used to reside in the area.

In popular culture