Pine Bush, NY: One Small Town, Two Huge Reputations
Welcome to the Jekyll and Hyde of Suburbia
For the better part of 41 years, I have lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of NY. Four years at SUNY-Binghamton plus one yearlong urban experiment as a Boston resident (spoiler alert: hated it) are the only periods in my life when I haven’t lived within the parameters of the MHV. Indeed, I feel as if I almost belong to this Valley, and this Valley, in turn, belongs to me.
In 2004, my husband Mike and I were searching for affordable housing. Back then, as well as now, in the NY metro area, finding such a thing was analogous to squaring a circle. We did finally succeed in finding shelter, which took the form of a less-than-lovely run-down two-family farmhouse. Our ramshackle “fixer upper” (read: money pit) was and is located on the westernmost outskirts of a hamlet named Pine Bush, which is located in the Town of Shawangunk (which is oddly pronounced SHON-gum). All of the above is comfortably nestled in the southern NY county of Ulster.
Got all that?
Since our kids attend Pine Bush schools and ‘Pine Bush’ is MUCH easier to pronounce than ‘Shawangunk,’ we tell people that we live in Pine Bush.
