Walking the Hudson River Skywalk & Rip Van Winkle Br: Connecting 2 Hudson River School Artists - 4K

When visiting the Catskills & Hudson, NY during the final best week peak Fall foliage, let's take a walk through the Hudson River Skywalk connecting 2 historically famous landscape artists of the Hudson River School: Thomas Cole & Frederic Edwin Church. The Hudson River Skywalk is roughly a 6-mile pedestrian walkway opened in 2019 crossing the Rip Van Winkle Bridge completed in 1935 (NY 23), connecting Olana State Historic Site & Cedar Grove: Thomas Cole National Historic Site. We take a walk in the westbound direction crossing the Hudson River from Hudson to Catskill, NY. The Rip Van Winkle Bridge also celebrates its 90th anniversary of completion.

Highlights:
0:00 Intro & Overview
1:26 Olana Roundabout (2018)
3:23 Hudson River Skywalk (2019)
6:33 Rip Van Winkle Bridge (1935) - NY Route 23
33:46 Rip Van Winkle Bridge Authority Park
39:37 Hudson River Skywalk (2019)
44:20 Thomas Cole National Historic Site

Filmed: Oct. 28, 2025

From Wikipedia:
The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a 5,040 ft (1,540 m) cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York. Affording 145 feet (44 m) of clearance over the water, the structure carries NY 23 across the river, connecting US 9W and NY 385 on the west side with NY 9G on the east side. The bridge also passes over Rogers Island and Hallenbeck Creek.

The bridge is named after the 1819 short story of the same name by Washington Irving, which mentions Hudson and Catskill.

The origin of the NYSBA was embodied in the Great Depression during the 1930s and 1940s. State finances were in short supply and an originally proposed plan for the state to build the Rip Van Winkle Bridge was vetoed by then Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. A possible precursor to the New Deal, Roosevelt supported the creation of an Authority, separate from state finances.

On March 31, 1932, Roosevelt signed into law a bill sponsored by Greene County Assemblyman Ellis Bentley that created the Bridge Authority as an entity that would issue toll revenue bonds to pay for what would become the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

In 1933, during the construction of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, the Authority acquired the Mid-Hudson Bridge, originally built by the State Department of Public Works in 1930.

Of note, the toll for a round trip across the Mid-Hudson Bridge for a car with 3 passengers in 1933 was $2.20, more than the $1.75 charged today. The 1933 $1 toll for a one horse wagon is no longer charged.

The Rip Van Winkle Bridge was dedicated in 1935.

The Bear Mountain Bridge, originally built by a private venture in 1924, was sold to the Authority in 1940.

The Authority dedicated the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge in 1957, the first span of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge in 1963 and the second span in 1980.