Hyde Park, NY — Hudson is a fitting name for a river. It connotes strength like the name of the actor. Rock Hudson or Hudson River, both suggest solidity.
On the bank of the Hudson last Sunday on the grounds of Vanderbilt Mansion, traffic coursed on the river. I wondered sitting on the river’s bank with my friend Susan how much of the river landscape has changed since the pioneers first saw it or since Frederick William Vanderbilt first sited the area in 1800s. On the upper grounds, views of the river are partially obscured by trees— grand trees that perhaps weren’t as tall as when Mr. Vanderbilt first saw them. Still, the entire landscape serves then and now as a fitting background for Mr. Vanderbilt’s ‘modest’ mansion of 54 rooms.
His estate in Hyde Park is now a national park. Here on the bank, river life opened up. In a half hour, I counted 30 or so motorboats, a ferry-sized boat replete with passengers, a sailboat, a jet ski, and slow moving logs suggestive of the Loch Ness monster.
I sat on a rocky promontory and saw wispy dragonflies and heard what must be cicadas (do cicadas make sounds in the day?) This rock jutted like a finger into the river and pointed north. To my right, an inlet formed and here stilled water became marsh. To my left, the river ebbed and lapped against the rocks to make perfect little whirlpools. This river is no stream, no brook, and it is not as wide as the English Channel. It is grand and approachable. I imagined eight Olympic-sized swimming pools lined up length-wise could stretch across the river. And across the river was Holy Cross Monastery, where I once went on a weekend retreat. The view of the river induces a calm.
The beauty of Hudson River lies in its duality: strength and accessibility. It’s deep enough to support a freighter. It’s accessible enough that an Olympic swimmer could cross it. Human settlements on the river seem civilized and not overly dense. One could sit on one bank and imagine what the neighbor on the other bank could be doing. It is a river that humans have left to some extent to be itself—free.
Photo by reivax under Creative Commons License
http://flickr.com/photos/reivax
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