The front of the Hurley Heritage Society and Museum at 52 Main Street in downtown Hurley, NY.
Hurley Heritage Society Museum
52 Main Street
Hurley, NY 12443
(845) 338-1661
https://www.facebook.com/HurleyHeritageSociety/
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Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Walking tour of the historical Town of Hurley on the fourth Sunday of each month from May to October.
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Hurley Heritage Society and Museum at 52 Main Street.
The sign that welcomes you to the museum.
The first thing you will notice is the section of the blue stone road that is displayed in the museum’s yard.
You can still see the grooves in the road that were left by the stone wagons that once traveled through the town.
The Front Hall has an exhibition of Revolutionary items and Native American everyday objects.
The showcase of Native American artifacts, located in the upstairs hall, features a timeline of projectile points(spearheads) from the earliest prehistoric times to 1350 AD. Many early tools and stone tools used by the River Indian Tribes are displayed with explanations and documented dates. The history of early pottery tells how and why the Indian settlers crafted utensils from local clay pits and kilns (from the museum website).
Hurley played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. Following the burning of Kingston (then New York State’s Capital) by British troops on October 16, 1777, General George Clinton made Hurley’s Main Street a military outpost. Immediately after the burning of Kingston, the Capital was moved to Marbletown until November 18, when it was relocated to Hurley. The Safety Council (which represented the combined legislative and executive functions of the state government) met in the Van Deusen House (from the museum website).
The Dutch Room:
The Dutch Room showcases how a living area might have looked in the Dutch and Colonial period in the 17th and 18th centuries. All curated items—Dutch bible, antique chairs, tables and cupboards, baby cradle, canvas floor cloth, butter churn, Dutch oven, pewter and china dishes—are typical of ones used by Hurley’s early Dutch settlers (from the museum website).
The Dutch Room
The inside of the museum offers you a glimpse of the past of the town of Hurley and in the time of the Dutch settlers.
The front Hallway Gallery is the old Dining Room.
The old Dining Room of the home has a wood burning fireplace for cooking with an old-fashioned toaster and pots for making stew. To the side is a butter churner and a spinning wheel for making clothes.
Off to one side of the room shows life at that time.
The historic kitchen with wooden shoes and a sausage machine next to the butter churner. The armoire is filled with linens.
The kitchen utensils and cooking materials.
The table had a cake mold and a cabbage shredder. The cabinet was filled with pewter and dishes. Home life in a Dutch home was a lot of work.
On display was a Dutch Bible and a felt hat and other items of Dutch life in the Hudson River Valley.
The History of Post Offices:
In the other room has an exhibition of post offices of the local area and their history and development.
The museum was able to replicate old post office of Hurley by saving pieces of it and brought them to the museum. This if the old front of the Hurley Post Office.
This is the original sorting station from the of post office.
The history of the Hurley Post Office.
Visitors entering the exhibition room are transported into the reconstructed interior of a vintage post office. A dozen display panels circling the room guide the visitor through the seven (yes, seven) iterations of the hamlet of Hurley post offices and through the upheaval caused by reservoir construction of the Ashton, West Hurley, Glenford, and Spillway post offices (from the museum website).
The artist Winslow Homer’s Hurley-An Arist’s View art exhibition:
The pieces of his work are shown took place when the artist lived in the area.
Winslow Homer, one of America’s greatest painters and illustrators, visited Hurley, NY, during summers of the 1870s to sketch and paint views of American pastoral life. It has been a not-so-well-kept secret that that Homer’s famed Snap the Whip is a Hurley scene. Now, recent research has unearthed a trove of his artworks that were inspired by Hurley homes and landscapes (from the museum’s website).
The exhibition on the Eagle’s Nest Community:
EAGLE’S NEST: EXPLORING THE MYTHS AND REALITY explores the history and lore of the Eagle’s Nest, a multi-racial community that resided on Hurley Mountain dating to the 19th century. The Eagle’s Nest exhibit looks at who settled and lived on Eagle’s Nest – not just the myth and hearsay, but a look at the archival records and documentation.
The Walking tour of the town every forth Sunday:
Every last Saturday, the museum has a walking tour of its historic downtown. The town is steeped in history and played a role after the burning of Kingston, NY by the British. It seemed that people escaped to Hurley to get away from the ruin.
The docents run an hour tour of the downtown historical area and give the history of the businesses and buildings that made up this historical town. With the threat of rain and dark clouds above us, our tour guide, Michael, took us on a modified version of the longer tour that was very interesting.
Two different docents gave two different approaches towards the tour and both were excellent. Try not to miss this when it happens at the end of each month from May to October.
The Start of the tour with our tour guide Richard:
The video:
Now a quiet picturesque town, the tour takes you past the historic houses, the Dutch Reformed Church and through their old Dutch cemetery where the remains of many of the first families of the area now reside.
The start of the walking tour
It is an hour-long tour packed with information and interesting stops along the way.
The Van Deusen House when it was the temporary Capital of New York State
The Van Deusen House-the former headquarters of New York State after the burning of the Captial of New York State-Kingston, NY.
The video of the tour of Downtown
The Pietrus Crispell house has served as the Parsonage since 1839.
The Dutch Reformed Church and the Parsonage.
The tour continued
Talking more about the historic downtown
We toured the Hurley Dutch Reformed Church and the parthage next door. We got to see the inside of the church and the pews of the main room. There were dedications to former ministers along the walls. The services are said to be interesting and engaging.
The Dutch Reformed Church of Hurley, NY at 11 Main Street.
http://hurleyreformedchurch.org/
The pews inside the Dutch Reformed Church of Hurley, NY
The Rooster Weathervane of the Dutch Reformed Church.
The Rooster Weathervane is a tradition of the church. The tour guide said that it was replaced by a cross which is a more Christian symbol of the church.
One of the older houses of Downtown Hurley. Built in 1715 it operated as the Half Moon Tavern in the18th century.
The Old Guard House
The Guard House where a British spy was held until his hanging in retaliation for the Nathan Hale hanging in New York City. It seems that a British spy did the same type of treason as the British felt Nathan Hale had done and hung him in the town the same way as retaliation for his crime.
The Old Burying Ground sign
Touring the Historical Cemetery in Hurley, NY:
The Video of the Tour
The sign at the entrance of the Old Burial Ground in Hurley, NY.
The Old Burial Grounds was the most beautiful part of the tour. The cemetery sits on a bluff overlooking the Catskill Mountains and offers the most beautiful view on a sunny blue day. It makes you less afraid of cemeteries after touring this well-kept burial ground. The tombstones are well maintained for their age, and you can see the family plots of the first families of the area.
The Old Burial Ground with a view of the Catskill Mountains in the background.
The family plots in the cemetery.
The cemetery after it received a lawn cut from the town.
The view from the burial grounds with the Catskills in the background.
Revolutionary War Hero Colonial Charles DeWitt gravesite.
The dogs that will greet you when you exit the cemetery.
These two friendly dogs wanted to join the tour with us by the cemetery.
The house that General George Washington was given a reception during the war.
The General was entertained at this spot during the war with people grateful for his service.
The house General George Washington visited when he was in Hurley NY. This is is Abe Houghtaling House, where a reception was held for General George Washington when he visited Hurley on 1782.
The side view of the house.
The “Stone Road” pieces outside the museum.
There are two sets of street tracks to see at the museum.
The “Blue Stone Road” pieces outside the museum.
We finished the tour outside the museum with a talk about the museum. I highly recommend going to the museum on the fourth Sunday of the month from May to October (must be nice when the leave change colors) while the tours are still running and take this very interesting historical tour of this small town. it is packed with information and interesting sites to see.
Frankenstein and his bride from the recent Scarecrow Festival at the museum.
Christmas time in Hurley and at the society are really charming. I stopped by the society (it is closed for the season) to see how they decorated the building and the whole town was decorated for the Christmas holidays with garland, wreaths and decorated trees. The local church was decked out in wreaths and lights and the whole town looked like a wood carving from Currier & Ives.
The outside of the Hurley Historical Society at Christmas time.
The Society at Christmas time all decked out with decorations.
I decided to take the same walking tour as above on my own to see the town of Hurley during Christmas time.
I started at the sign at the Historical Society sign.
The Old Guard House at Christmas time.
The Reformed Church at Christmas time.
Downtown Hurley at Christmas time.
The Gazebo decorated for the holidays.
I doubled back and walked to the other side of the downtown towards the cemetery. The historic homes in the downtown were decked out with garland and wreaths and the downtown looked very picturesque.
One of the historic homes in Downtown Hurley.
Another one of the historic homes in the downtown area.
Another home on the tour route.
Before I left Downtown Hurley, the Hurley Fire Department added to the festive environment by having their fire truck drive by for their “Santa Around Town” event. It was kind of sad considering there was only myself and another person walking around, and their first stop was a grocery store down the road with two cars in the driveway. Maybe more people were planning on showing up later that afternoon.
The Hurley Fire Department at “Santa Around Town” in Downtown Hurley.
It was a relaxing afternoon in Hurley before I moved on to other parts of the Hudson River Valley for the afternoon.
The 2025 Tootsie Exhibition (in conjunction with the Hurley Public Library):
The Official Trailer to the film
When I visited the museum in August of 2025, the museum in conjunction with the Hurley Public Library was honoring the filming of the movie ‘Tootsie’, which had been filmed at an historic farmhouse just down the road from the museum along with the Hurley Mountain House sports bar just down the road from the museum. Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange and Charles Durning were in Hurley for three weeks filming the Upstate New York scene.
The ‘Tootsie’ exhibition
The display
The pictures and articles from the filming
The articles from the filming
Pictures from the day of the film shooting from locals Cindy Gill Lapp, who was a teenager when she visited the set (pictures above with Mr. Hoffman) and Viola Opdahl, who owned the historic house.
After the tour of the museum, there was a special screening of the movie ‘Tootsie’ at the Hurley Public Library with local resident, Cindy Gill Lapp who talked about her times visiting the set with her friends from high school.
Cindy Gill Lapp talking about visiting the set of ‘Tootsie’ in 1981
Ms. Gill Lapp with Dustin Hoffman on the set
Then a group of twenty of us stayed to watch the movie at the back room of the library. It was a really nice special event.
After the movie was over, I stopped down at Stewart’s Shops at 6 Main Street, down the street from the museum for a snack. It is one of only three places near the museum to eat.
The Stewart Shops at 6 Main Street in Hurley
https://locations.stewartsshops.com/ll/US/NY/Hurley/6-Main-Street
My review on TripAdvisor:
The inside of the Stewart Shops
For a gas station snack shop the Pepperoni Pizza was actually quite good and had a nice flavor
It was a very nice afternoon out.
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