Public Libraries That Literally Open Doors, A Love Letter To The Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — How do we love thee, Hudson Valley? Let us count the ways.

With apologies to poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, this regular Patch column is our chance to shamelessly sing the praises of the best place to live in the whole world. Those of us who live here don't need a reminder that our home is a pretty special place, but sometimes the best way to keep a relationship with a place fresh is through the sincerity of a love letter.

This week the inspiration for our love for the Hudson Valley can be found at the public library around the corner.

The Hudson Valley is home to some of the best libraries you will anywhere. The local library helped us through the pandemic with curated, and personalized reading lists. When school doors were briefly locked, the library offered take home crafts to help keep idle hands busy.

In towns big and small in our region, the library is both the cultural center and an invaluable resource for the haves and have nots.

If a reporter were wake up each morning and only write about the incredible performances, art installations and transformative exchanges that take place among the books each day, that reported would never want for a story. Luckily, librarians are pretty good at telling that story all on their own. The museum pass program at our libraries, however, is a gift with an impact that might not ever fully fathomed.

While each library has its own offerings, for those lucky enough to live in the Hudson Valley, some of the most famous collections and experiences on the planet are in reach in a way they aren't for many others.

The programs also make a few hidden treasure unique to the Hudson Valley more accessible to everyone.

"Libraries are about opening doors to discovery, and our Museum Pass Program extends that experience far beyond our walls," Executive Director of the New Rochelle Public Library Eugenia Schatoff told Patch. "Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation, our patrons can explore some of the region's most inspiring museums and cultural destinations at little or no cost. We are proud to help make these enriching experiences more accessible to individuals and families throughout our community."

In New Rochelle, and through similar programs at most other local libraries, those destinations include places like 9/11 Memorial and Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Katonah Museum of Art, MoMA, Storm King Art Center and the Westchester Children's Museum, among dozens of others.

A Patch love letter to the Hudson Valley might offer a chance to a chance to express gratitude, and the opportunity to share that joy with neighbors, but no words will ever match the wide-eyed wonder of an 8-year-old seeing something truly incredible for the first time — that is a love letter that can never be properly written.