Rip Van Winkle Bridge, Catskill, NY
Catskill, Greene County
Vintage postcard of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge as it spans the Hudson River near the village of Catskill, New York. The postcard was published by the Kingston News Service, located in Kingston, New York. The postcard was never mailed.
The Rip Van Winkle Bridge was constructed at a cost for $2.4 million from 1933 to 1935 by the New York State Bridge Authority. The bridge opened to the public on July 2, 1935. Today the bridge, which connects the town of Catskill on the east side of the Hudson River to the town of Hudson on the west side of the Hudson River, continues as a vital link between communities, transporting approximately 15,000 cars a day on Route 23 as it crosses the bridge. The bridge is 5,040 feet long and 30 feet wide.
The bridge is named after popular Rip Van Winkle story by Washington Irving that was published to international acclaim in 1819. Set in the Catskills, an amiable Rip wanders off in the woods with his dog Wolf to escape his wife’s nagging and to avert “all kinds of profitable labor” only to encounter a silent group of short, bearded men playing nine-pins. After drinking some of their liquor he falls asleep for twenty years. Upon waking, he returns to his village to learn that his wife has died, the American Revolution has occurred and that he must face the fact that many of his former friends have either died, moved on or simply do not recognize him. The short story is an American classic.
