Henry Hudson, English explorer for the Dutch West India Company, who journeyed up the Hudson River in 1609, and Robert Fulton, who navigated the Hudson by steamboat in 1807, are inextricably intertwined with the history of Westchester County. From the moment Hudson’s Half Moon explored Westchester’s western shoreline and landed at Senasqua, (the Native American name for Croton Point), to Robert Fulton’s North River traveling from New York City to Albany almost 200 hundred years later, the Hudson River and Westchester have shared a common history.

Everywhere one travels in Westchester there are reminders of this legacy --schools, streets, parks, and memorials commemorate Hudson and Fulton. In 1909 and in 1959 Westchester joined fellow New Yorkers in celebrating Hudson and Fulton with parades, festivals and statutes.

We mark the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricenntenial with a virtual tour along Westchester’s Hudson River shore and explore the ways that history, commerce, culture, preservation, recreation and celebrations have linked America’s River to America’s suburb. You may visit any or all of the 11 Westchester communities along the shore to explore their many connections to the Hudson through four centuries. Experience a steamboat journey, based on William Wade’s 1847 panorama map of the Hudson, which begins in New York City and concludes at Westchester’s northern boundary.

Enjoy your trip!