The Rip Van Winkle goes out twice a day six days a week for three-hour narrated tours to the Vanderbilt estate, in Hyde Park, and back. When it isn’t being chartered, the Teal takes one-and-a-half hour tours of the Hudson during the weekend. Both boats do weekend evening music cruises, featuring a live band or DJ. The boats of all four companies are available for charter to celebrate a special birthday, anniversary or other event, or to impress a client or reward staff if you’re a business. Some of the companies also partner with local restaurants, which either rent out the boat or cater the food.

Sandy Henne, owner of Hudson River Cruises, has been in the Rondout for 30 years, before there was even a dock. “We tied up to a guard rail at the end of the parking lot,” she said. She purchased the 300-passenger Rip Van Winkle cruise boat in 1986. In July and August it goes out on scheduled tours twice a day six days a week, in addition to a Friday evening cruise with live bands. The company also schedules four murder mystery cruises over the summer, and the boat is available for private charters.

Last week the passengers included people from the Netherlands and Australia. On one music cruise, an Australian Aborigine—he was a friend of a band member—played his didgeridoo during intermission. Henne operates a second boat, the Lark, a launch that’s taking people Thursdays through Sundays to the Rondout Lighthouse for tours (a docent from the Hudson River Maritime Museum, which manages the lighthouse, is onboard). Although she hasn’t done much marketing, the tours are picking up.

Henne also hopes to be operating service on the Lark between Kingston and Rhinecliff soon. She’s waiting to get approval from Rhinecliff two officials. On August 6 there’s a big event with Obama for which she hopes to be transporting dignitaries across the river.

The cross-river service would be mostly geared to tourists. In general, she said the Rondout could use more focus, to maximize its potential. “The new walkway is helping a lot. If you build it, they’ll come,” she said. Parking, however, remains a problem. On a weekend, “between the Teal and our boat and everybody at the restaurants, there’s no place to park. We tell people to come early.”

The Teal, which is owned by Joe Thomas—he and partner John DeForest own parent company North River Charters –does mostly charters, for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, Sweet Sixteen parties, and the like. Businesses also charter the boat, although the economic downturn has led to a falloff in company picnics. The 80-passenger vessel also does sightseeing tours on weekends when it isn’t being chartered and evening music cruises; call 750-6024 for times. The boat has a full bar and serves snacks on the public cruises.

Thomas, who’s owned the boat for five years and worked on it for eight—it’s been docked at the Rondout since 1993—said the walkway has brought a lot more foot traffic to the area (although on the downside, there have also been more incidences of vandalism). Local restaurants such as The Steelhouse and Ship to Shore also on occasion rent out the boat, catering all the food, selling tickets, and conveying customers from their establishment to the boat, benefiting both businesses. “I’d love for the businesses to know we’re down here,” said Thomas. “The restaurant trips are going very well.” One of the biggest challenges is the limited season. “It’s just a matter of bringing more people down there and maximizing those couple of months,” he said.

Scott Herrington, owner of Blue Dolphin Charters, takes up to six people out on the Hudson for private trips on his antique, 34-foot Hatteras Sports Cruiser. It has a small cabin with a galley and a head (toilet), and the boat has been chartered for a special birthday or anniversary celebration. It’s also popular with sightseeing tourists and even book authors. The longest trip was eight hours—down to New York City—though Herrington has taken the boat on his own as far as Montauk and Massachusetts. Sometime a family will bring along fishing rods, though Herrington doesn’t do official fishing trips anymore. Meals can be catered from a local restaurant.

Herrington also charters to businesses, for example an insurance company that’s rewarding a client or staff. “We do lots of trips with the Maple Ridge Bruderhof,” he said.

Herrington also owns the Kingston City Marina. “I believe very strongly in the waterfront,” he said. “We have tried to work with the city to build a park that’s for everyone. People are now coming in much greater numbers.” He’s made improvements to the marina and collectively advertises and markets the area with other businesses. “It’s a very cooperative business group.”

Dan Feldman, owner of Hudson Sailing, does charters on his racing 28-foot trimara, a three-hulled sailing boat that can accommodate up to six passengers. The standard trip is three hours, and clients often enjoy a swim and picnic on the cruise. Because the boat is so light, it can sail even in the slightest breeze. If the weather is bad, he’ll reschedule a trip.

Many of his customers are celebrating a special event, and many are people from the city up for the weekend. He’s listed in a couple of travel guides but many people find him simply by Googling “sailing on the Hudson.” A couple of times he’s picked up people from New York City arriving by train from the dock in Rhinecliff.

Word of mouth is helping spurring his business, which is growing, despite the fact Feldman does little advertising.  “Someone who leads a stressful life comes up from city, has a drink, eats, relaxes on the trampoline and goes to sleep. They’re in heaven,” he said. “People have told me it’s like a mini vacation. All you hear is the wind and waves. A family came out this season and e-mailed me to thank me. They said the kids said it was the best thing they did as a family.”

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Two weeks ago, for example, the Rondout Inn hosted a couple from London, lured by Kingston’s history. The visitors had already traveled in New England and wanted to experience the Hudson Valley, said co-owner Larry Zalinsky. Being so central—the couple visited Hyde Park, Woodstock and Cooperstown–Kinston was the ideal base. A couple from Turkey stayed a month visiting their daughter, who was attending the Culinary Institute of America. Zalinsky said he and his wife and co-owner B.C. Gee recommend nearby restaurants to their guests and even volunteer to make the reservations.

Zalinsky said the inn, which consists of two charming one-bedroom apartments, also attracts a lot of weekenders from New York City. Four out of five are young couples from Brooklyn, who heard that Kingston was a cool place to visit, he said. “A lot are interested because Kingston is a city. They like the funkiness and the fact they can walk around and find stuff to do.” The Rondout Inn also puts up people attending the workshops at R&F Handmade Paints, which cross-promotes the lodging. Other guests have included the parents of Bard students, UPAC theater goers, antiquers from Vermont, an intern at Fleisher’s Grass-fed and Organic Meats, and the captain of the Coast Guard ice breaker (he invited Zalinsky and Gee out for a ride).

Schwartz’s Inn has also attracted numerous visitors from England. “They like this area because of the history. We’ve had people who stayed a week or town,” said co-owner Barbara Cohen. “They love the architecture, museums, waterfront and the restaurants. They always say the people here are very warm.” Other guests are in Kingston to attend a wedding, first communion, or funeral, she said. A special niche is Jewish visitors who can walk to the orthodox and conservative synagogues on Lucas Avenue, which meets their religious requirement not to have to drive.

 Schwartz’s Inn is unusual in that has a direct, personal link to the city’s past. It’s located above the optometry practice of Barbara’s husband, Joe, in a building that was once occupied by his grandparents (they ran a tailor shop and café and lived upstairs). The inn has two units, although only one party at a time books the space. Guests can choose from a wonderful assortment of cafés and restaurants within walking distance in which to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, noted Barbara.

On occasion Schwartz’s will accommodate visitors in the summer who want to escape the heat of NYC and hop on the bus. Other guests have docked their boat in Kingston and don’t want to spend the night onboard. Schwartz said she and Zalinsky and Gee are very supportive of each other, referring guests to each other’s lodgings. Schwartz’s Inn is listed on the websites for the city and Ulster County Tourism and belongs to the regional B&B association.

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 Windsor Masonry, located at 5 Sharon Lane in Uptown Kingston, has a unique niche: renovation of old buildings using a traditional lime mortar that’s very similar to the original, locally made lime used two hundreds ago. Imported from France, the hydraulic lime, as it is called, is a “self-healing” material, meaning that when it develops a crack, the crack automatically fills up, according to Keith Boyd, who founded the company ten years ago. “Before 1870 people built with lime,” he said. “A lot of masons today use cement mortar to repair these buildings, which doesn’t hold up; they have to be repointed with lime. We’re one of the few upstate companies that do this.” One example of a local building with deteriorating mortar due to cement repointing is the Senate House, he said. 

Boyd learned his trade in his native England, where he bought and renovated houses before immigrating to the states a decade ago, after meeting and marrying his American wife. He restored an old brick coach house on St. James Street, although Boyd’s business normally takes him far afield from Kingston: projects include a church in Catskill, a farm in Hyde Park, and several buildings in Westchester County. “The challenge Kingston faces is it doesn’t have enough employment,” he said. Finding employees for this specialized trade is also difficult, which requires “a four-year apprenticeship. It’s physically demanding and you’ve got to have an artistic flair.” Boyd currently has one worker.

Re-creating and restoring a historic building using authentic materials is also expensive. Hydraulic lime costs roughly five times the price of Portland cement.  “Very few local people who own houses can afford the renovation cost,” he said. “It’s why I go all over the Northeast.”

LaTorre Construction Company, located near the railroad trestle over the Rondout Creek at 7 Dewitt St., has been in business 38 years, building custom homes as well as high-end and historical renovation work, along with some commercial construction. The company has a large brick warehouse and shop at 117 Broadway, in the Rondout. Owner John LaTorre said its clients are within a 50-mile radius of Kingston, with a lot of work across the river, where many people live in older homes and “want to keep their house historically correct.” He said high-end customer renovation “has been keeping us going” during the economic downturn.

“We enjoy being in Kingston and enjoy the people,” LaTorre said. “I wish we had a little more industry around here,” such as existed 100 years ago. Now, with none of that manufacturing left, “you’ve got to be a history buff” to live in the area.  (phone number: 845-338-4982)

Also based in the Rondout is Kizer Stonework, which specializes in dry-laid bluestone sidewalks, patios, walls, walkways and steps, according to owner Gary Kizer. located in Kingston for last 9 years. We’re primarily bluestone specialists, we have expertise dry-laid bluestones, sidewalks, patios, walls, walkways and steps. “Some people are interested in maintaining a local heritage,” he said. “A lot of clients want us to design unique spaces using stone, in keeping with that tradition.”

Kizer, who founded the company nine years ago and works out of his home, gets his material from various local stoneyards.  He has “one and a half employees.” Last year was “horrible” for business, but in 2010 “things are picking up quite nicely,” he said. Kiser said he learned his trade from his grandfather, a stone mason who hired him in the summers when he was growing up.  (phone number: 845-338-9180)

 James McGowan & Son Masonry Inc. located at 5 Railroad Ave., in Midtown, does large-scale masonry construction projects for municipalities, government agencies, hospitals, and commercial companies, including the Walgreens in Kingston Plaza, the medical facility building for Benedictine Hospital, and the Hudson Valley Federal Credit  Union. Founded in 1992, the company hires as many as 40 workers depending on the work load. Brick and stone veneer, concrete masonry, glass and clay brick, marble, limestone, granite and precast concrete are among the specialties listed on its website, www.mcgowanmasonry.com

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The food has a distinctly Mediterranean accent, not surprising considering the sisters’ native city is Venice, Italy. There are 10 tapas and 5 desserts on the menu, ranging from $3 to $12. Sample dishes include prosciutto on homemade focaccia with fig conserve (figs carmelized with onions in balsamic vinegar), a kale or white bean bruschetta, and a cheese fondue, with ham, bread, and fruit. There’s also a chocolate fondue, with berries, pound cake, pretzels, and macaroons. Other desserts are tiramisu and strawberries with mascarpone and limoncello.

The wines are French and Italian, along with an Argentine vintage, and include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cote du Rhone, and Fume Blanc. Mint opened with a performance by internationally known jazz singer Rebecca Martin, who also happens to be a Kingston resident. “Right now we’re doing music once a month,” with plans to expand the live performances to twice a month.  Mint is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to midnight.

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Madden’s Fine Wines & Spirits occupies a quaint corner storefront on lower Broadway and carries wines from all over the world. “We’re not your norm,” says owner Cecilia Savona Madden. “We specialize in smaller vintners and also carry a full line of liquor. We’re very personal. It’s all about the customer, and my prices are very competitive with large liquor stores. We have some fine wines, but our average wine is probably $12.99 or $13.99.” Since opening in March 2008, business has been great and sales are up over 100 percent. Cecelia likes being in the diverse neighborhood of the Rondout. “People are from all ethnic and financial backgrounds. I want to accommodate everybody. This community is very close knit, and I want to see other businesses succeed. The area is starting to really move.” Cecilia concedes that “the Rondout is a tough nut to crack,” but she says there is a strong base of customers in the neighborhood. To succeed, business people need to consider the needs of the residents and also be consistent. “When I was going to open, people were like, ‘who will you sell to?’ People don’t realize what the Rondout is all about.”

Madden’s father and mother help her out, along with two part-time employees, Brian Tymom and Sandra Taylor. Her brother, Stephen Savona, owns Savona’s Trattoria, down the block, and other family members own Savona’s Plaza Pizza, located in Kingston Plaza and on Morton Blvd. in town of Ulster.

I bet you didn’t know

1. We host wine tastings—experience them for yourself!
2.  Cecilia and Brian are long-lost cousins.  We are not married!
3. Madden’s strongly believes in giving back to the community.
4. Madden’s Fine Wines & Spirits and Savona’s Trattoria are sister and brother.
5. Madden’s is the only wine and spirits shop in Kingston located in a historic brick-and-iron-facade building.
6. Brian lived in the Napa Valley.  He worked at the Artesa Winery under Don VonStaavern, who was voted #1 winemaker in the world in 2000.
7. Cecilia’s beverage of choice is a cool Mojito.
8. Brian’s beverage of choice is Champagne.
9. Sandra is our very own mixologist.
10. Madden’s is most thankful for the loyalty of its customers.

Discounts: On Wednesdays Madden’s is offering a 10 percent discount on wines and a 5 percent discount on liquor to Kingston business owners. Also, people over 60 qualify for  a 10 percent off wine and 5 percent off spirits.

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