Northern delights / No great loss

Today: k.e. harloe, a freelance writer based in New York, author of the newsletter media x capital; and Joe MacLeod, Creative Director at INDIGNITY, and author of the column MR. WRONG.

Issue No. 221

Hidden Gems of Upstate New York
k.e. harloe

I Lost My Google Timeline and That’s OK
Joe MacLeod

Hidden Gems of Upstate New York

by k.e. harloe

As a longtime resident of upstate New York (25 years and counting), I have long been on record regarding my belief that most of you will be moving north eventually. As New York City disappears into the sea, more and more people will find themselves moving toward fresh water and asking what a Stewart’s is.

I’m kidding but also not. Climate migration is upon us and the northern regions of the United States—especially those touching a Great Lake or two—look increasingly appealing. So what better time to get to know your future home? Just for you, I put together a list of the upstate New York gems I’ve returned to this year for food, fun, respite from fascism, etc.

Note that I’m counting anything north of Westchester County as upstate. You’ll also find that most of these recommendations skew toward the state’s eastern corridor: the Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, and the North Country and the Adirondacks. I’ve spent the most time living in these areas, and they are also some of the easier places to reach by train (apologies in advance to diehard central and western New York fans, though we all know that there is one superior part of the state and it is the Adirondacks). Good luck with your move.

BOOKSTORES

The BirchBark Bookshop
Parishville

You wouldn’t know it’s there if it weren’t for a modest sign on rural Route 56 reading, “Books this way.” Located in a converted barn on a quiet country road near the Canadian border, this is the last place you’d expect to find a bookshop like this one. With over 80,000 books for sale, the BirchBark offers books of all kinds, comics, records, Harper’s magazines from 1960, and—I’m sorry, I have to say it—magic. Wander around the birchbark-lined shelves, and explore the buildings’ neverending wings and stories. There’s no place like it in all the rugged North Country, or really just about anywhere. 

Dove & Hudson
Albany

A short walk from the capital city’s modernist nightmare, the Empire Plaza, you’ll find the best used bookstore I’ve visited in New York State. This is a dramatic recommendation. My Venus is in Leo. New York City has used bookstores aplenty but I have yet to visit one that holds a candle to Dove & Hudson. Visit, earn some purple dollars, and spend some time in the political theory and poetry sections. 4.7 stars on Yelp. Who could argue with that.

Rough Draft
Kingston

Who doesn’t love a bookstore that is also a bar? Nestled in the center of a medium-sized Hudson Valley town, Rough Draft has bougie lattes, delicate pastries, cozy tables and couches, and a very decent collection of books; it’s a shop worth planning a whole vacation around. 

ICE CREAM

Stewart’s
Everywhere

Anyone who’s visited upstate New York knows Stewart’s, the gas station chain with locations peppered across the state. But only true New Yorkers know that Stewart’s offers some of the region’s best ice cream. And only the truest of true New Yorkers know that the thing to order at Stewart’s is a milkshake: ideally mint cookie crumble, extra chunky.