Text from William Wade Text from William WadeAthens, on the opposite side of the river from Hudson, is a chartered
village containing about thirteen hundred inhabitants.
Kinderhook creek enters the Hudson on the east side, nearly opposite to Four Mile Point,
and one hundred and twenty miles from New York.
Arthur Adams in The Hudson River Guidebook tells us that Athens was originally called Loonenburg or Lunenburg and was settled in 1686. In 1867 Athens became the southern most point of the Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad. A steam ferry to Hudson began around 1836.
Currently Athens is the home of Shakespeare on the Hudson, an open air summer theater.