Town of the Week: Ghent

  |  October 15, 2012

What goes on in Ghent? Not too much, which is why folks like it. The photo of Ghent on Wikipedia is a section of the Taconic, and the last big news story about it was in August, when a “a massive, noxious inferno engulfed the TCI plant of New York, a company that disposes electrical equipment, PCBs and bulk oil.”

But, fear not — the air is clean again, and it’s marked by rolling hills and pastures more than chemical fires. It also has an artists’ colony and sculpture park (full disclosure: we’ve logged some time here ourselves) called Art Omi, and a summer stock theater, Ghent Playhouse, so there’s culture amid the farmland. There’s a giant organic farm called Hawthorne Valley, which has a CSA and supplies many local restaurants.

It’s about two hours and 45 minutes by car, just off the Taconic. And that’s probably how you’ll get there, unless you take the train to Hudson and get a ride for the 22-minute drive. It’s also just a few minutes from Chatham, one of our favorite villages in upstate New York.

As far as real estate goes, there are lots of old farmhouses, many in the $300,000 range. So subscribe to This Old House and get ready for some vintage real estate in Ghent.

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