In the Hudson River Valley, where a rich palette of fall foliage dominates the landscape, one sight can hold its own: apples. Ripe for the picking, they hang heavily from the trees this time of year, sporting almost as wide an array of colors as the leaves around them — the rose blush creeping across the mustard shell of a Jonagold, the crimson radiating from an Idared, the splash of lime green rimming the top of a purplish Macoun.

American farmers grow far fewer varieties of apples than they used to, but you wouldn’t know it from a trip to this region of New York. The abundance of the fruit here is a source of local pride, celebrated in fall festivals up and down the broad river that gives the land its name. Apples are a part of the area’s history, the orchards here dating back to the earliest days of settlement. Cowardly Ichabod Crane himself hungered for the fruit in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”:

As Ichabod jogged slowly on his way, his eye, ever open to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press.

Though the fog still rolls in with stirring eeriness on certain moonlit nights, the Hudson River Valley is far from the gothic Headless Horseman hunting ground Irving made the place out to be. The beauty of “America’s Rhine,” as it’s been called, inspired an entire artistic movement, the Hudson River School of 1830–1870. And the vibrancy of the quaint towns, stately 19th-Century mansions, antique stores, historical sites, and pickyour-own orchards draw an endless stream of tourists every year.

Apple of Everyone’s Eye
The Hudson River Valley sports many of the state’s orchards and more apple festivals than there are autumn weekends to attend them. The Apple Festival and Craft Show, (October 7–8) at Goold Orchards in Castleton, typifies such celebrations. Attendees can pick from the orchard’s 1,700 trees on 120 acres before relaxing in a tent with a sampling of New York State wines. The Warwick Apple Festival, (October 7) in Warwick, turns things up a notch with rides, arts and crafts booths, and enough apple-related goodies to feed and refresh the 40,000 people who show up every year.

And if you miss a festival, you can still load up on apples, pumpkins, Indian corn, and other autumnal delights at one of the dozens of old farms throughout the valley. Hepworth Farm Market in Milton, a family farm in operation since 1818, offers up to 30 varieties of pick-your-own apples.

Houses of History
The area’s history isn’t all tied to agriculture. Up and down the river, some of world’s wealthiest men hired the world’s best architects and landscapers to build magnificent estates. These showplaces still stand today, preserved for visitors to tour.

You’ll recognize a coincidentally large number of these architectural treasures by the “van” in their names: Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, the post- Revolutionary War estate of the prominent New York political family; Hyde Park’s Vanderbilt Mansion and Historic Site, a Beaux-Arts style home built in the late 1800s; and the Van Wyck Homestead Museum, the 1732 abode of the Dutch family in Fishkill.

Kykuit in Sleepy Hollow is another must-see, a six-story stone home that housed four generations of Rockefellers. The tour includes a walk through the terraced gardens built by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who decorated the grounds with sculptures by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, and others.

Plenty of artists who settled in the area also made good and left behind the houses to prove it. With the exuberance of a home makeover TV show crew, Washington Irving worked to give the flora and garden paths of his Sunnyside estate a natural feel. He even encouraged wisteria to cover the house. Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church designed the grounds of his Persian-style home, Olana, to maximize the views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains. You can see how these and other views ended up on canvas in the 1815 Catskill home of the Hudson River School’s founder Thomas Cole.

Two presidents and a first lady left behind a presence in the region as well.Washington’s State Historic Site in Newburgh preserves the former home that served as George Washington’s headquarters at the end of the Revolutionary War. And the Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park maintains the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, his presidential library, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s retreat, Val-Kill.

Bygones for Buying and Beholding
Those pieces of Hudson River Valley history the locals haven’t kept alive they’ve preserved in a number of museums throughout the area. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Historical Society Museum houses the state’s canal heritage in an 1885 Protestant church in High Falls. The Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen features the world’s only 3-D harness racing simulator. And Mountainville’s Storm King Art Center displays works by 20th-Century American and European sculptors in a 200-acre outdoor sculpture park.

Viewing history is all the sweeter when you can also buy little pieces of it. After taking in the region’s estates and museums, treat yourself to some of the best antiquing in the state. The town of Hudson is the safest bet — hard to go wrong with 65 antique shops in five historic and very walkable blocks. New Paltz is another good source of antiques, with the added bonus of a stroll down Huguenot Street, “the oldest street in America with its original houses.” The stone houses, fort, and church on Huguenot Street were constructed between 1692 and 1894.

Repeat Viewing
The Hudson River Valley’s mix of history, culture, and natural beauty regularly bring back repeat visitors. Some, like David Pearson, choose to stay on. After his first visit 20 years ago, he kept coming back to the region on a regular basis. In 2000, he bought a home here. “It’s a retreat from daily struggles,” he says. “I’m always at peace here, surrounded by good friends and good people,” says Pearson. “I like living the quiet country life.”