Geography

Kingston has three recognized area neighborhoods. The Uptown Stockade Area, The Midtown Area, and The Downtown Waterfront Area. The Uptown Stockade Stockade District was the first capital of New York State. Meanwhile, the Midtown area is known for its early 20th century industries and plays home to the Ulster Performing Arts Center and the historic City Hall building. The downtown area, once the village of Rondout and now the Rondout-West Strand Historic District, borders the Rondout Creek and is home to recently redeveloped waterfront . The creek empties into the Hudson River through a large, protected tidal area which was the terminus of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, built to haul coal from Pennsylvania to New York City.^[12]
Downtown, called "the Rondout" because it was formerly known as Rondout, New York, is an artist community labeled by Business Week online as one of "America's best places for artists."^[13] It is home to a large number of art galleries. Kingston holds many festivals in the Rondout neighborhood, including the Kingston Jazz Festival, the Artists Soapbox Derby, and Drum Boogie.^{[citation needed]}
Midtown is the largest of Kingston's neighborhoods, home to Kingston High School and both campuses of HealthAlliance Hospital, part of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network; HealthAlliance Broadway Campus (formerly The Kingston Hospital) and HealthAlliance Mary's Avenue Campus (formerly Benedictine Hospital).
While the Uptown area is noted for its "antique" feeling, the overhangs attached to buildings along Wall and North Front streets were added to historic buildings in the late 1970s and are not authentically part of the 19th century Victorian architecture. The historic covered storefront walks, known as the Pike Plan, were recently reinforced and modernized with skylights. In the Stockade district of Uptown, many 17th century stone buildings remain. Among these is the Senate House, which was built in the 1670s and was used as the state capital during the revolution. Many of these old buildings were burned by the British Oct. 17, 1777, and restored later. A controversial restoration of 1970s-era canopies was marred by the sudden appearance of painted red goats on planters just prior to the neighborhood's rededication.^[14] This part of the city is also the location of the Ulster County Office Building.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.6 square miles (22.4 km²), of which 7.3 square miles (19.0 km²) is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), or 15.03%, is water. The city is on the west bank of the Hudson River. Neighboring towns include Hurley, Saugerties, Rhinebeck, and Red Hook.