East Fishkill, N.Y.: Close to the City, but Far Enough Away

It was a joy to see our town featured in The New York Times! I am a lifelong resident and am now raising my own family here. I love our town so much that I recently brought to life a community magazine, East Fishkill Living, to shine a light on the remarkable people who live here. I've seen our community grow and change over many years, yet so many good things are happening here. I find great happiness in getting to meet neighbors and businessowners and writing about them in our pages (free from the negative noise of people complaining on social media and online). I believe we are bringing people together through our positive stories and hope to continue connecting even more businesses and people as we welcome more sponsors over time. For my first job out of college, I had to look for work in NYC and landed on Wall St. I commuted via Metro North, then all the way downtown, for years, and it is a difficult lifestyle, but many make it work. I also did the 684 commute for a few years later in life and found that worse than the train. But for the most part, you do have to leave the area for a better wage--for now, anyway! There are some exciting economic developments taking place in the area that could change that and improve our quality of life. And few places in the world are more beautiful than the Hudson Valley. We have rich history to share and great food too (Culinary is nearby)! Come visit and reach out if you need ideas on what to do or where to stay, shop and eat!

Moved to East Fishkill exactly one year ago, from Park Slope, Brooklyn. We're a semi-retired lesbian couple, and chose the area for the outdoor opportunities. We rarely take a drive that we don't find a new hiking trail, each one offering a quiet spot to commune with nature. We go into the city one or two times a month, but we quickly became "matinee" people, since it's not a lot of fun to drive home from Beacon at 1 am. While it wouldn't be a horrible life to commute into Manhattan five days a week, I'd recommend it only for someone who loves plenty of alone time to enjoy a book. I wouldn't commute by car. Life's too short for that kind of stress. We are definitely using our car a lot, but we go to Hudson for pizza, to Pleasantville or Rhinebeck for great films, and Kingston for drag bingo. If you hate to or are unable to drive, East Fishkill might not be for you. In return for the inconvenience of having to drive everywhere, we live on nearly three acres of tree-studded tranquility. A wealth of birds and deer share our property, and our neighbors are quiet and respectful. We recently found a welcoming, gay-affirming church at St. Nicholas in New Hamburg, and are eagerly awaiting the springtime re-opening of Joe's Dairy Bar. Dutchess Biercafe is a frequent haunt, and Liberty Street Bistro in Newburgh is a fine dining treat. If you're looking for a quiet life where nature surrounds you, East Fishkill might fit the bill.

Pleasant place to live - if you work within a reasonable distance or telecommute. The drive to any of the local Metro North stations (Beacon, Pawling, or Brewster North) represents an ample commute on it's own IMHO. I'm rather surprised at some of the home prices, given the distance from employment centers that offer the type of employment needed to sustain them - but if the local housing market bears them, it is what it is.

I grew up in Lagrange and attended St. Columba in the center of Hopewell Junction, and y’all are WILD. It’s a grueling commute to the city and the traffic on Route 9 is the absolute pits. Also, if you commute by car, you have to deal with the stretch of the Taconic near Peekskill Hollow Road. Terrifying. However, love the Rail Trail! Shoutout to Pizza Village and Hopewell Cleaners—you the best!

What's the Lyme disease situation there?

My family and I have been part of Hopewell Reformed for more than ten years. It's a great church with folks from all different backgrounds. Anyone new to East Fishkill (or if you already live here) is welcome to come visit!

After decades in NYC, we just moved to Hopewell from Brooklyn a few months ago and are loving proximity to nature, being just a stone's throw from the Appalachian Trail, and all. While shopping & culture is 20 minute drive away, it was all 45 minutes away by subway in Brooklyn. Plus the driving is easy. We're fortunate in that we telecommute, except for the 2-3 days a week we commute in on the glorious Hudson Line. As more & more work can be done from home, the possibilities of towns like East Fishkill & Hopewell will be more enthusiastically considered.

Hopewell Jct. was a great place to grow up. I went to Wappingers schools and I can’t say enough good things about the education I received, from elementary through high school. My teachers were expert, dedicated, and humane, and I was well prepared for success in whatever path I chose. I often introduce my university students to concepts and skills I learned in high school and even earlier and it makes me pause and realize what a fine public education I was lucky enough to get.

We lived there for 10 years, left about 4 years ago to CT and never looked back. Definitely affordable homes that can accommodate most budgets but thats where it ends. Hopewell town is dated depressing strip malls, most with failed businesses. Restaurants never last long, you have to travel 20-30 min from there to get a decent meal. The schools over the years we were there declined sharply, we ended up taking our son out and sending him to a Day School 25 min away. As others have mentioned, it's a ridiculous commute into NYC, I can't imagine doing that 5 days a week. Any MetroNorth station is solid 20-25 min away and no bargain there either. There is lots of great things to do from there as many mentioned, including Fishkill Farms, Millbrook, etc. Its about the only thing I miss, the beauty of Hudson Valley.

"paid $575,000 for a 4,568-square-foot, four-bedroom colonial" Sorry to spoil the fun, but: We Americans have to change. Why does a couple (even with two dogs), w/o a home based business, have to have a four bedroom 4,568-square-foot McMansion?

"About 65 miles north of Manhattan ... East Fishkill is crisscrossed east-west by Interstate 84 and north-south by the Taconic State Parkway. It is halfway between Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson and Harlem lines and a half-hour drive from the Amtrak station in Poughkeepsie. “It’s easy to get anywhere,” Dr. Hinkle said." LOL. If you have a car and don't mind spending a lot of time in it. Decades ago, I knew someone from Queens whose family had a home in Fishkill. They used it as a summer home as it was too far too commute from NYC every day.

if you are looking to move to Dutchess County buy in the Spackenkill Union Free School District is a top rated, public school district located in Poughkeepsie, NY. It has 1,426 students in grades K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 10 to 1. According to state test scores, 63% of students are at least proficient in math and 61% in reading. Also East Fishkill has lots of polluted site's , watch where you buy from the 20 most toxic places in Upstate New York on the EPA's hazard list #15 Shenandoah Road Ground Water, East Fishkill Site score: 50 Year listed: 2001 Contamination: A 1,200 metal septic tank, as well as "acid pits" used to dispose of chemicals used to clean microchips had caused PCE contamination in local residential wells. Progress: Treatment systems became operational in 2012, and extraction and treatment is ongoing. IBM, the potentially responsible party, created transmission lines to bring water from Fishkill's supply to local residents. #10 Hopewell Precision area contamination, Hopewell Junction Site score: 50.00 Year listed: 2005 Contamination: Volatile Organic Compounds that can evaporate into the air detected in area drinking water as a result of sheet metal manufacturing at the site. Progress: The EPA is continuing to identify contaminants and working toward a long term remedy for the site. The site listing is being updated. Most of your shopping will be on line or you have to go to Poughkeepsie Rt 9 or drive to Danbury Ct.

I grew up in East Fishkill (right around Fishkill Farms like one of your readers noted below) and benefited from a great public school education in the Wappingers Central School District. East Fishkill and in fact, Dutchess County, is wonderful and safe with a warm culture, immense history and the beauty of the Hudson Valley at every view. It has a good infrastructure and business development systems, major colleges (like Vassar, Marist and the CIA - and more), great entertainment venues like the Bardavon, Daryl's House - and the best small business shopping on the streets of Beacon, Rhinebeck or Millbrook, as examples. There's so much more. After college, I returned as a young professional for exactly those same reasons (as did many of my high school friends, who to this day live here and have also decided, like me, to raise their families here). I'm now a working mom, and chose my career in the metro area so my daily commute to Newark, NJ is 100 miles, one way. I now live in Millbrook which is only a handful of miles northeast from where I grew up. I think there's something to be said for really loving where you live. The commute is actually manageable once you find your routine. And the tradeoff because of everything I noted above (and more) I feel is well worth it.

This article glosses over the realities of commuting by car to NYC from East Fishkill and other communities in that area. Even under the best of circumstances, the round-trip automobile commute from East Fishkill to Midtown Manhattan is going to take between 4 1/2 and 5 hours each day, with a roughly equivalent experience on MetroNorth. This may be a wonderful place for people who commute to places like White Plains or Poughkeepsie or to people who are able to work remotely and commute only a day or two a week, but for most people who work in Manhattan, East Fishkill and environs is a commuting horror show. Just check out the southbound traffic on either I-684 or I-87 between 6:30 AM and 9:00 AM on any weekday and you'll see the reality of the automobile commuting situation.

I taught in the Wappingers Central School District for thirty year's , Roy C. Ketcham to be exact. A great district, but I agree with Cathy, it is a wonderful area, but not close to everything. So upon my retirement I moved to the city, but with fond memories of a lovely "upstate" community.

How nice to read about our home town. We are East Fishkill residents and have been for 50+ years. We love this area, not only for its natural beauty, but for the proximity to many things, both cultural and scenic. We have the Hudson River to the west, the Catskills and Berkshires to the north (east and west), the Taconics and CT to the east, and NYC to the south. Then there are the beautiful and scenic towns and cities that surround us, which offer us an endless choice of things to do. My husband and I are fortunate enough to live a stone's throw from our good neighbors at Fishkill Farms (shout out to the Morgenthau family and friends), who supply us with everything from locally grown apples and vegetables, to locally sourced dairy, meats, and sundry products. We have a wonderful police department, local fire departments, and town highway department, who help keep us safe. It really is a little bit of heaven, and we are proud to call it home.

While a lovely place for families and outdoor pursuits, it isn't exactly "near everything". The drive into the city or even White Plains is long and in inclement weather, really long. And then you have to find parking. The train isn't much better. If you have no interest in playing, shopping, or working in NYC, you will be fine. Move there for the home affordability and the convenience to highways, but don't think that you won't be spending a lot of time in your car. You will notice that the slide show has only a few slides of shops and event spaces. There is a reason for that.

This was a lovely article written about our East Fishkill NY, 'A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE". As a resident & (also selling our home, downsizing (of course we are staying in the area) for close to thirty years I can attest to the wonderful school district, this is us! This is home! May I also add that we have an excellent Police Department as well as our volunteer fire dept. with state of the art equipment. Mrs. P Suriano, 4 Beverly Ct, East Fishkill, NY